By now, I’m guessing that Sen. Roger Katz is wishing that he had never penned his latest opinion piece: “Governor’s proposal rebalances income, sales tax to reflect today’s economy.” Katz claims that, by cutting the income tax and increasing our sales tax, “in some ways, we will ‘choose’ how much to be taxed.” As an example of political nonsense, that one’s right up there with Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” quip.

Maybe Katz was overcome by the fumes emanating from the “trickle-down” brew spewing forth from Republican “think” tanks.

With a clear head, I’m sure that Katz fully realizes that many Mainers can only “choose” to spend every dime they get. Any increase in the sales tax rate and/or broadening of its base will only cause more pain to those on the lower end of the income scale. As Douglas Rooks pointed out so clearly (“Will cutting income tax make Maine economy stronger?”) on Jan. 22, “relying on sales rather than income tax as the primary state revenue source will make the system far more regressive.”

Katz ruminates on our “service-based economy,” yet he manages to miss a salient point: Even though today’s Maine may not produce as many goods as in the past, we still have a large retail economy in which goods are sold. Raising our sales tax rate will not only harm lower income Mainers; it also will harm Maine’s retail sector. Buyers will have even more incentive to shop in sales-tax free New Hampshire or online.

In their zeal to erase income and inheritance taxes, Republicans are willing to throw Maine’s retailers under the bus.

Let’s face it, Republicans really can’t help themselves. Even so-called “moderates” succumb to their party’s mind-numbing refrain: “Leave no millionaires behind.”

John R. Merrill

Augusta

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