The plan calls for the state to join Powerball.

AUGUSTA (AP) – Gov. John Baldacci weighed back in on the multi-sided debate over taxes and school funding Wednesday, unveiling a package he said could offer immediate and longer-term property tax relief while reducing Maine’s overall tax burden to spur competitiveness.

“This is a beginning – this is a platform of discussions,” Baldacci said at a Cabinet Room news conference.

Baldacci’s latest try at shaping the debate comes amid a cacophony of competing policy proposals put forth by a host of groups and individuals.

As a first step, Baldacci proposed an investment of an additional $25 million in school funding for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1, and an additional $25 million for an expanded circuit-breaker program to aid some lower- and middle-income property taxpayers.

Baldacci also called for capping expected local spending for education while boosting the state share of local school costs to 55 percent by 2010. He also called for caps on municipal and county budgets, which he likened in concept to recently imposed curbs on state budgeting.

In addition, Baldacci said he hoped to restructure funding for special education and education transportation to generate savings and to provide incentives for increased efficiencies in K-12 schooling.

To promote economic development, Baldacci proposed an April 1 repeal of the personal property tax on machinery and equipment, with towns to be reimbursed at a level of 50 percent of what they would have received under the tax.

The governor’s plan would double circuit-breaker funding, available on an income-eligible basis, by phasing out the state’s homestead exemption program and channeling the bulk of the money from that program to the new circuit-breaker.

Beside that $25 million shift, another $10 million from the homestead program would be applied toward general purpose aid to education, which Baldacci is proposing to hike from $725 million to $750 million next year, according to State Planning Office Director Martha Freeman.

Helping to buoy general purpose aid would be $9 million that the state could expect from joining the Powerball lottery. Details for raising another $6 million to bring the GPA increase to $25 million are still to come.

Asked why he would be willing to allow Powerball as part of the revenue-raising side of the proposal when he has gone on record opposing to expansion of gambling, Baldacci said, “While it bothers me we’re doing it, it goes to a good cause. … The economy and the times demand some flexibility.”

Outlining the rationale for his package, Baldacci pegged Maine’s tax burden at 20 percent above the national burden and said it had ranked among the highest in the country for a decade.

“I’m not in favor of increasing Maine’s tax burden,” he said, suggesting that lowering it could help retain or attract businesses.

The governor’s package, the latest in a series of proposals he has offered since taking office not quite 14 months ago, immediately gets added to a mix of plans already under discussion in the Legislature.

Its unveiling also comes against the backdrop of looming statewide votes on separate tax relief or reform proposals advanced by the Maine Municipal Association and the Maine Tax Action Network.

The MMA-backed plan, which failed passage on its initial vote in November, seeks to require the state to pay 55 percent of funding for public education from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The most recently certified citizen initiative would cap property taxes at $10 per $1,000 of assessed value and limit assessment increases to 2 percent a year while the property’s ownership remains in a family.

Asked whether he was confident his proposal could draw support, Baldacci said, “It may not be a 30-second sound bite but I think it’s the right way to go.”

According to the Baldacci administration, spending on education makes up 36 percent of state expenditures and 61 percent of expenditures by local governments.

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