By now, you’ve probably read bits and pieces about the governor’s proposed new budget which includes an expansion of the sales tax, a decrease in the income tax and a few million tons of asphalt for our pothole-plagued roads.
If these proposals look familiar to you, they are.
Hark back to 2009 when the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed a law that would have almost done the same things, but sold the idea based on fairness rather than savings.
The Republicans were incensed enough to mount a people’s veto that year, and the proposal went down in flames.
In fact, current Senate President Mike Thibodeau was one of the strongest opponents of adding more categories to taxable items five years ago. Today, he’s probably like many fellow Republicans. He’s caught between a rock – Gov. Paul LePage – and a hard place – his constituents.
And instead of a single party ruling both chambers of the Legislature, the GOP holds the edge in the Senate and oh, sure, everyone is putting on a happy face while sifting through the details of the budget. But the honeymoon may be over quicker than the Denver Bronco’s Super Bowl hopes.
Here are a few things to remember about the legislative process. Or, as German chancellor Otto von Bismarck reportedly said in the 1880s, “Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.”
According to the Maine Legislative Information Office, there have been 1,514 bill requests filed this year by lawmakers. Some are rehashed from previous sessions. Many are requests from constituents. A large percentage of them won’t make it past a committee hearing.
While bills submitted by the governor and his department heads are usually high on the priority list, that doesn’t mean they have a better chance of being passed.
So before you reprogram your cash registers to comply with new sales taxes, wait until things sort out and negotiations get underway.
Once serious consideration of a sales tax expansion gets underway, there will be so many lobbyists in the state house halls that you’ll need a shoe horn to get to the rest rooms.
There will be some tense meetings — open and behind-the-scenes — with party leaders on both sides. Horse trading will be commonplace. “Okay, I’ll support this piece of processed meat if you’ll back my bill to open a casino in Brownville Junction.”
If anything, LePage has the knack of keeping the Legislature a little off balance. You never knew what he was going to come up with at the last minute during the last session, and chances are he’ll have a few surprises up his sleeve for this one.
If he feels that his tax reform package isn’t getting a fair shake, he’ll either raise the roof about it or change a few things – maybe a combination of both.
Nevertheless, conservatives in both parties who ran on a platform of lowering taxes may wind up supporting an increase on some of them.
So fasten your seat belts. The 127th Legislature could be in for a bumpy ride.
Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer.
