To the Editor:
Remember the old true and false questions? If any part of the question is false, the answer is false. So be it with LD 1495’s income tax reform, which targets seniors and provides windfall tax savings for the wealthy.
The “No’s” conveniently neglect to add Maine Revenue Service’s (MRS) estimated increase in sales taxes as result of the expansion into services. It is this net tax change (income tax saving less the sales tax increase) that becomes the bottom line to individual taxpayers. I refer everybody to MRS’s tax calculator at www.maine.gov/revenue – select “Tax Reform Update,” then “Income Tax Changes,” and then “informational calculator.” Find out for yourselves what your net tax liability will be based on your data.
Seniors (taxpayers >65) lose under LD 1495. Non-itemizing senior couples filing jointly will realize a net loss; they will pay more in sales taxes than they save in their income tax throughout their adjusted gross income (AGI) range of $35K-$100K. Non-itemizing single seniors will also net a loss in their $20K-$62K AGI range and again briefly at $80K-$83K AGI.
Per MRS, the average senior’s AGI is $43,628, netting a LD 1495 loss of $53 (single senior) and $46 (married senior couple). Why does LD 1495 tax philosophy treat seniors less favorably than the existing tax code?
Ten percent of Maine taxpayers earn more than $107,000 annually; MRS estimates that this elite group will receive 36 percent of the income tax savings – $551 average. Worse, one percent of Maine taxpayers earning more than $317,000 will receive 26 percent of the income tax cut – $4011 average.
Compare this with the 90 percent of Mainers earning less than $107,000 who will average only $108. It is one thing to be taxed more heavily to help the less fortunate; it is something else indeed to be taxed more in order for Maine’s top 10 percent to receive a tax windfall.
Since part of LD 1495 is bad, it is all bad. Vote “Yes” on Question-1.
Charles Hanson
New Harbor
