Maine voters rejected the tax-cap referendum by a wide margin Tuesday, handing the property tax-relief issue back to legislators. Tuesday night Gov. John Baldacci pledged that unlike last session, next year state lawmakers will deliver relief.

Baldacci said he appreciated that Mainers rejected what he called an “extreme” proposal. “I know people want us to address tax relief and tax reduction.”

Baldacci said he’ll present a plan next session to provide that relief. Voters “want us to do it, and they want me to get it done. I’m not going to let the Legislature go anywhere until we finish this.”

While Lewiston and Auburn have among the highest property taxes in the state, voters here rejected the California-style cap by nearly a 2-1 ratio. Not one ward in Lewiston came close to supporting the tax cap.

Statewide at 12:55 a.m., the tax-cap plan was losing 63 to 37 percent, with 78 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Tax Cap Yes! conceded the race at 10:20 p.m., not quite 2 hours after polls closed.

“The opposition never disagreed that Maine’s taxes are too high, (that) Maine incomes are too low,” said Phil Harriman of Tax Cap Yes! “There’s a clear message from this election that the next Legislature and governor have to put tax relief as the No. 1 priority.”

Harriman added, “For a bunch of amateurs, we’ve made a difference.”

Dennis Bailey, spokesman for Citizens United to Protect Public Safety, Schools and Communities, said the campaign had similarities to last year’s casino vote, another referendum he opposed. Both issues appeared to have strong popular support early, but as the opposition got going, support crumbled.

Tax Cap Yes! didn’t get television ads aired until late, and they weren’t plentiful. The opposition began airing ads early in September.

“If you ask people do they want their taxes cut, people say sure.’ But when they read the fine print, they’d say I don’t want that,'” Bailey said. “There are a lot of reasons why we won, but the biggest is this was such a flawed bill. Even the proponents had to run away from it.”

Saying, “We know this is a bad bill, but they’ll fix it,” is no way to get something passed, Bailey said.

The other reason why the cap was defeated was the high number of organizations that opposed it, he said. “Back in the spring people said the tax cap was a slam-dunk. But as time went on we could see it falling apart,” he said. “There’s no better advertising than word of mouth.”

While voters rejected the tax cap, many said state lawmakers must act.

“Something needs to be done,” but the cap “isn’t the way to go,” said Tina Harris of Auburn. “It would hurt too many things.” Both state and local government need to cut back on spending.

Her husband, Robert Harris, voted yes, because “they haven’t done their job in the state capital to cut down (on spending). It’s time for us to do something about it.”

Louis Cote also voted yes. “Something needs to be done. They’re taxing us right out of out of homes.”

Walter Dyment of Lewiston voted no “because of the publicity. I have to agree it’s not for Maine people,” Dyment said. “If something happens at the house I’d like to have the (emergency) response teams there.”

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