Readers of political literature, expecting truthful content, do so at their own peril. To wit, a recent postcard from a candidate running for state legislature with two interesting entries. First, the state budget surplus is the result of over taxation and Maine has the fourth highest tax burden in the United States.
State budget surpluses, and Maine has recently enjoyed one, happen because the state treasury collects more than what is disbursed. A positive balance can happen because state agencies turn back appropriated but unspent funds, more is collected because of higher sales receipts or personal income, or the federal government sends unexpected money because of grants. In Maine’s case, it’s a combination of the above. In fact, largely because of the COVID-19 payments, Maine taxpayers will be soon receiving rebate checks. So, to attribute the surplus to “over taxation” is misleading at best or plainly stretching the truth beyond recognition.
The postcard’s more interesting assertion is Maine having the fourth highest tax burden. Interestingly, there’s no source citation given for that statistic. It’s helpful to turn to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, doing work in tax policy and analysis since the 1930’s and a source of information to the media and general public. Their website, taxfoundation.org, is a treasure trove of information.
The Foundation offers a table showing State and Local Tax Burdens by State with two further breakouts, a State-Local Effective Tax Rate and a Per Capita State and Local Tax Burden. So, what results are found in the table.
The lowest effective tax rate is Alaska (4.6%) and the highest is New York (15.9%); Maine is 12.4%, 41st down from Alaska’s top spot. In New England, Connecticut and Massachusetts have rates higher than Maine. For per capita state and local tax burden, Maine is $6,906 and except for New Hampshire at $6,593, the other New England states are higher.
Clearly Tax Foundation data do not support the postcard’s assertions. My, what a surprise!
F. Gerard Nault
Windsor
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