Question 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot was born of anger and frustration. That’s no way to write tax policy.

Voters are asked to choose between three options. Question 1A directs the state to increase its share of funding for education next year from the current level of 43 percent to 55 percent, including paying for all special education costs.

Question 1B also increases education funding to the 55 percent level, but is phased in over several years. It also increases funding for the Maine Homestead Exemption Program and the Circuit Breaker Program, which reduce the out-of-pocket expense for property taxpayers.

Question 1C rejects the other two.

While 1A and 1B are well intentioned, they are both flawed. Voters should choose 1C.

The Maine Municipal Association – the primary architect behind Question 1A – for years has sought changes in the tax code to ease upward pressure on property taxes, which are assessed locally. The Legislature has been unresponsive, faced with its own budget and revenue problems.

Backers of 1A want to force a crisis. If the proposal passes, the state will become responsible for an estimated $246 million a year of education spending currently paid for through property taxes. Lawmakers would be put in the miserable position of raising sales or income taxes, cutting about 10 percent of the state budget or ignoring the will of the people. All in an election year.

MMA says the state’s sales tax is too narrow and exempts too many businesses, especially in the service sector. But Question 1A leaves it to the Legislature to find the money.

And, in the end, 1A doesn’t guarantee that property taxes will go down. Municipalities set the mill rate and could decide to spend the windfall from 1A on other things.

Question 1B doesn’t lower property tax rates either, but it does ease their sting with more funding for the Homestead and Circuit Breaker programs. It also revises the formula for distributing state education spending and creates useful definitions of the minimum level of service a public school should provide. But the complicated plan dedicates two out of every three dollars in new revenue to education. We think that’s overly optimistic and an unrealistic expectation.

Question 1C has its own problems. We have concerns that the political action committee that formed to support the none-of-the-above option is using 1C as a stalking horse for a proposal – that’s on the political horizon – to cap property tax rates.

This year’s ballot battle should serve as a warning to the Legislature. People are mad and they won’t stand for another legislative session that fails to address Maine’s high property tax burden. Leadership demands action, not passing the buck to voters.

Reject 1A and 1B. Send a message to Augusta that it’s time to get serious about fixing Maine’s antiquated tax policies, and that half measures with nifty slogans won’t do. Vote yes on 1C.


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