The members of the Gang of 11 recently hyped their tax plan in a Maine Compass. They left us with the question, “What’s the alternative”?

To begin with, they can look at less government spending, less regulation and a smaller state Legislature instead of more taxes to support lawmakers’ spending habits.

They want to bite the hand that feeds us. Maine is favorably regarded as a vacationland around the country, so the Gang of 11 indicate they want to increase taxes on the very people who help our economy, our visitors.

They want to increase sales taxes. Sales taxes are regressive and put a disproportionate burden on lower income people. We don’t need to increase the tax burden on our lower income citizens to pay for the spending habits of our legislators and our bureaucrats. The Gang of 11 should be ashamed of themselves.

The business community already criticizes Maine for its high rate of taxes, so why increase taxes? Why don’t they compare some of our more expensive government services to other, more-efficient states and work on achieving similar levels of efficiency.

Of course, it might mean a smaller government, less regulation and less spending thus lessening the need for taxes, something bureaucrats and liberal politicians are averse to.

Maybe we can reduce the size of the Legislature and the amount of time they spend in session, that would give them less time to write more laws to justify their own existence. Imagine the future potential for less regulation and the savings.

We should all remember the names of the Gang of 11, especially Sens. Richard Woodbury, Seth Goodall and Roger Katz for being so bold to hype their money grab and vote them all out of office the next time around.

David Alexander

Augusta