1/21/99
There was an old black and white television program about a guy who gave away a million dollars. Obviously known as the million dollar man.
Gov. Angus King, Jr. has gone the million dollar man 1,000 times better. He should be known as Maine's first billion dollar governor-man. In just four years of King's administration, he has increased the state budget from $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion.
If King's $4.5 billion budget survives the legislature largely unscathed, and it probably will, it means that every Maine citizen's tax share responsibility of the state budget for the next two years will be about $3,673.
That's a hit anyway it's counted on a population that is already in the top fourth highest taxed, and 36th lowest personal income, state citizenry in the country.
Fisheries and agriculture, the two industries depicted as symbols on the state's 1820 Dirigo standard are in critical negative masses, the paper companies are abandoning the state, the north and south urban and rural dilemma is being addressed by social distribution of the tax moneys and gubernatorial rhetoric not new job initiatives.
More than half the state's college and university graduates are working out of state because they can't find jobs in Maine and the gubernatorial answer is more money for more state-taxed education to send more graduates to other states for work.
And all the while the Billion Dollar Man is piling on the taxes and saying things are just wonderful.
The Billion Dollar Man insists on increasing the fuel tax on this rural state's wide geography and largely rural motorists by $32.5 million to bail out his highway department which can't live within its own submitted budget two years ago and mired in a $55 million sinkhole. If passed, the 5-cent increase to 24 cents a gallon will top shelf Maine with Montana, Oregon and Utah as the highest taxed gas of any other states in the country.
And the Billion Dollar Man is also proposing increasing the diesel fuel tax 5 cents a gallon which will tremendously affect the trucking and commercial fishing industries even now struggling to survive.
The Billion Dollar Man builds his budget like a house of cards topped with the Queen of Hearts ( $55 million more for apple pie education) and the King of Spades (closing state liquor stores "saving" (?) $2.3 million) and Jokers like shuffling another $22 million hand into the Rainy Day Fund for political partisan under-the table deals.
The Billion Dollar Man wants to squirrel away almost a million bucks for anticipated increases in salaries to state workers. But then decreases state payments $1.1 million for teacher retirement health benefits.
The Billion Dollar Man gets a jump on perhaps $100 million in proposed $100 million of legislation and bureaucracy tree tapping by the Senate's majority leader, Chellie Pingree, to purchase a Scarborough Beach for $1.7 million.
There's an interesting proposal surrounding the Billion Dollar Man's budget item for the Maine's Revenue Service's $3 million to fund "tax agents." The BDM previously added these new agents saying that the new taxes collected by these agents would more than pay for their salaries. They were essentially under contract. Now the BDM wants to put the new agents on the permanent state payroll for $3 million whether or not its proven that they have really increased tax collections very much.
It's like a sheriff hiring new deputies to shoot dead horses.
The Billion Dollar Man's budget message claims "the state's financial condition is much improved...the state's savings account continues to grow to levels we could only dream about during the economic downturn...all obligations are fully funded...tax cuts over the past four years are honored...I stand ready to work collaboratively with members of the legislature to enact a budget that carefully addresses the needs of Maine people for services from their government at a level they can afford."
And the Billion Dollar Man has a non-gubernatorial-occupied Blaine House in Augusta for rent or lease for the next four years with hot and cold running rhetoric. No references required.
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