AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine’s continuing debate over tax policy alighted on a national issue Monday.

In what may merely prove to be a warm-up for a referendum campaign somewhere down the road, legislative tax panelists heard testimony for and against a taxpayer bill of rights.

The Colorado-style measure, advanced now as a bill for lawmakers to consider, also forms the basis of a petition drive aimed at forcing a statewide vote in November 2006.

The proposal would limit growth in state spending, linking expenditures to increases in population and inflation. It would also require super-majorities in the Legislature and voter approval for measures to boost revenue.

Anti-tax activist Mary Adams of Garland, who spoke in favor of the bill before the Taxation Committee and who is promoting the referendum drive, called the legislation “traditional Maine common sense and local control in statutory language.”

Adams sought to back up her advocacy with material from the Maine Heritage Policy Center and told Taxation Committee Senate Chairman Joseph Perry, D-Bangor, she found tax legislation championed by Gov. John Baldacci and enacted earlier this year to be inadequate.

“I think it hardly reins in state spending at all,” said Adams, voicing skepticism over the effects of the Baldacci tax relief package known as LD 1.

The package will increase state aid to public schools to 55 percent over four years, set limits on municipal, school district, county and state government spending, and bolster Maine’s existing tax relief programs.

Geoff Herman of the Maine Municipal Association, arguing against the bill of rights Monday, said that its provisions for state government would not be legally enforceable without amending the Constitution.

In prepared remarks, Herman also asserted that “the ability to accomplish comprehensive tax reform at the state level would be sharply compromised.”

Adams said petitioners backing a citizen initiative have gathered 30,000 signatures, putting them three-fifths of the way toward their goal in advance of an October deadline.

Baldacci, meanwhile, was scheduled to convene a mini-tax retreat later Monday, hosting Democratic leaders and majority party members of the taxation panel.

Also expected to attend was the House chairman of the Taxation Committee, independent Rep. Richard Woodbury of Yarmouth.

While the governor has been mulling ways to follow up on the enactment of LD 1 with additional tax legislation, Perry and Woodbury have been discussing an approach of their own. At least at times, they have focused on broadening the applicability of Maine’s sales tax while reducing the rate and also lowering the individual income tax.

With Baldacci already occupied with follow-up budget legislation and an ambitious bond package, it remains unclear how strong an appetite remains within the administration or the Legislature for another major push on tax policy this session.

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