The Sun Journal almost got it right in the Nov. 20 editorial, "Reform's appeal is stability."

Yes, the controversial "tax reform" package is about more and steadier revenues to Augusta. It has never really been about anything more than that. All of the noise about "revenue neutrality" and "exporting taxes" is just camouflage for the real issue — more money to Augusta. That is why this law will face a repeal referendum in June.

Where the editorial got it wrong was in the assertion that if reform fails, Mainers will suffer. Not only is that wrong, it is 180 degrees wrong.

This new tax scheme from the majority party will hit low-income and elderly Mainers the hardest, especially the 300,000 Mainers whose incomes are so low they don't even file tax returns. For them, this is sales tax increase, with no upside.

Significant relief will go to people making more than $350,000, based on an analysis by Albert DiMillo, a veteran CPA who ran the tax divisions of Bath Iron Works and Raytheon Corporation. For average income folks, the suspension of tax indexing for inflation until 2013 will turn their tiny income tax reductions for 2010 into tax increases four years from now.

The tax reform that Mainers need is called tax relief. The tax-poor Maine people are not overly concerned with a state government that occasionally has to tighten its belt. What really matters is relief from the stifling burden that the overspending in Augusta has produced.

Rep. Bruce Bickford, Auburn