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Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Taxpayer bill of rights headed for referendum
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AUGUSTA — Organizers of a drive to cap government spending and give voters the final say on tax increases have enough support to send the issue to a statewide referendum this year. Supporters of a so-called taxpayer bill of rights submitted 51,611 valid signatures to the state, about 1,100 more names than needed to place the issue on the ballot. The referendum will be held at the general election Nov. 7 unless the Legislature moves up the vote to the June 13 primary election. Lawmakers could actually adopt the proposal during the current session, though it almost always rejects such initiatives and sends them to voters. "We're awful glad that the taxpayers and the voters will have an opportunity to vote on this," said activist Mary Adams of Garland, a leader of the referendum campaign. "I think they'll grab it just like a drowning man would grab a flotation ring." Despite Adams' optimism about the outcome of the ballot question, the campaign is sure to be hard-fought. The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a conservative think tank that drafted the legislation, is working with Adams and her allies to fend off criticism from the likes of Gov. John Baldacci, the Maine Municipal Association, the Maine AFL-CIO and the Maine Center for Economic Policy. "We've already got what we need in Maine" to rein in taxes and spending, said Martha Freeman, a Baldacci appointee who runs the State Planning Office. Freeman was referring to a tax-relief law the Legislature passed last year to boost state aid to local schools, expand existing tax breaks and cap spending at all levels of government within the state. The proposed spending cap is similar to one in Colorado. It is the only initiated referendum that has been approved in Maine this year, although state officials have yet to rule on petitions seeking a referendum to legalize slot machines in Washington County. A referendum drive seeking a tax on bottled water failed to collect enough signatures to force a vote. The spending cap would peg the growth in state government spending to inflation and population increases. School districts would have to tie spending increases to inflation and student enrollment. Cities, towns and counties would base their spending increases either on the growth in property values or on inflation plus population, whichever is lower. At the close of each fiscal year, 80 percent of any surplus state funds would be used to provide tax relief, leaving 20 percent to be deposited into a budget stabilization fund, a sort of savings account to be tapped if revenues run short later. Cities and towns would have to use surplus funds to cut property taxes. The spending cap would allow governments to increase revenues, but not easily. Raising taxes and fees would require a two-thirds vote of the appropriate legislative body, such as the Legislature at the state level or the selectmen, town council or town meeting at the municipal level, followed by majority approval by voters in a referendum. Much of the debate preceding a vote is sure to center on how the spending cap has worked in Colorado, where it is part of the state constitution. Last November, Colorado voters weakened their state's cap by approving a referendum that allows state government to keep revenues that otherwise would have been refunded to voters. House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick, who opposes the spending cap, described it in a statement Tuesday as a "calamity from Colorado." But Bill Becker of the Maine Heritage Policy Center countered that the Maine proposal avoids the pitfalls of the Colorado plan. Becker said the Maine plan, unlike Colorado's, would allow the state to save and later use some surplus funds, instead of refunding all of the money to taxpayers. If the cap goes to voters in November, it is sure to have a high profile in the gubernatorial and legislative races, which also will be resolved Nov. 7. Whenever the referendum is held, it will mark the fourth time since 2003 that Maine voters have tackled ballot questions dealing with tax relief. The first round occurred in November 2003, when voters gave preliminary approval to a Maine Municipal Association referendum calling for a one-step jump to 55 percent state funding for local schools. Voters reaffirmed their support for that plan in June 2004, but the Legislature subsequently changed the voter-approved law. In November 2004, voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum sponsored by Carol Palesky's Maine Taxpayers Action Network that would have capped property taxes at 1 percent of valuation. Two months later, the Legislature passed the tax-relief law that is emerging as a focal point of the spending cap debate.
Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at:
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