Mercifully, the legislative session in Augusta has (sort of) come to an end, and the Maine Policy Crew sorts through the rubble left over after lawmakers destroyed the last shred of fiscal responsibility in Maine.
The most obvious and disappointing thing that happened this week was the passage of the so-called “Part Two” budget. As expected, it was full of not only more reckless spending, but a lot of tax and fee increases that were needed to fuel that spending. Contrary to all the rhetoric claiming that “broad based” taxes were not going to go up, everyone in Maine will indeed be giving more money to the kleptocracy in Augusta.
The one encouraging thing that happened this week related to the budget was the failure of an ultra-progressive push to raise income taxes. A liberal rebellion of sorts had to be quelled earlier this week, as hard-left lawmakers sought to replace tobacco tax hikes with (of course) taxes on “the rich.”
That isn’t all that is happening, though. The Legislature also approved an expansion of Ranked Choice Voting, they approved a bill that would make Maine a sanctuary state, and much more.
We discuss these issues and more in this week’s Pine Tree Pulse podcast.
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