Question 1 debate spurs talk of tax revolt
By Doug Fletcher
Staff Writer

AUBURN – Bob Stone rephrased Pat Buchanan’s “peasants with pitchforks” mantra Wednesday, cautioning about 100 Chamber of Commerce members of a looming tax revolt.

Stone, a conservative columnist, is leading what he termed as a grass-roots movement against a ballot question that would require the state to spend more on public education.

The Maine Municipal Association and the Maine Teachers Association both favor Question 1A, saying its passage would lead to reduced property taxes and better schools.

Stone, though, said passage of 1A would cost state taxpayers $3 billion and do nothing to guarantee lower property taxes. It could, however, galvanize taxpayers’ organizations that Stone maintains “are blossoming in the state” from Portland to Millinocket.

“We are sitting on the edge of a taxpayer revolt,” he told people attending a special Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce breakfast called to allow debate of Question 1 issues.

Without meaningful tax reform, Stone predicted: “You’re going to see a storming of Augusta.”

Buchanan, another conservative columnist, had sought the Republican nomination for president in 2000, warning that “peasants with pitchforks” would lay siege to government to demand tax and other reforms.

Nix 1B, too

Stone also urged people to reject Question 1B, a competing measure backed by business and the Legislature that would boost aid to education, but do so over a multi-year schedule. That plan, Stone claimed, would still cost another $1 billion and do nothing to improve Maine’s tax structure or reduce the size of government.

Either proposal, he added, would force increases in income or sales taxes, if not both.

But following Stone’s lead – doing nothing by voting for 1C, nixing both school aid proposals – isn’t the answer, said Dana Lee.

Lee is Mechanic Falls’ town manager and heads a political action committee supporting passage of 1A.

After relating how he’s had to call townspeople into his office to initiate tax foreclosures, Lee warned listeners that without tax relief, “There is a crisis forming. I’m feeling it. I’m on the local level.”

Stone’s 1C stance, Lee said, would only serve to “empower and embolden the next angry mob coming down the pike.”

State Rep. David Lemoine, an Old Orchard Beach Democrat and House chairman of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee, said only 1B offers real financial aid to schools and a reasonable approach to tax reform.

While 1A would require the state to provide nearly $250 million more annually for school aid, 1B would phase in added education funding over five years and limit municipal use of the money to “essential programs and services.”

Restore exemptions

Lemoine also said 1B would set a 10 mill maximum on the amount of local property tax dollars earmarked for education, restore homestead exemptions and improve so-called circuit breaker provisions aimed at helping limited-income people afford to stay in their homes regardless of tax burden.

Lee said voters have a choice between action and inaction when they cast ballots in November. A vote for 1A, he said, tells the Legislature it needs to live up to its responsibility to fund education, reform taxes, and figure out how to do both reasonably.

“Do it now,” he said, “or it’s not going to happen. This is the revolution. Force the crisis. They will figure it out.”

dfletcher@sunjournal.com