I thank the Sun Journal for shining its editorial light on municipal revenue sharing and how crucial the program is to keeping property taxes low (March 18).

One of the great myths perpetrated by this administration (and those before it) is that “we haven’t raised any broad-based taxes.” That is simply not true.

As a selectman in Wilton and previously as an SAD board member, I have witnessed firsthand the shuffling down of the tax burden (and responsibility) to the local level.

In fact, according to the Maine Revenue Service, the percentage of tax revenue in Maine provided by property taxes is nearly 43 percent, when for decades it had been 30-33 percent.

Property tax is the leading provider of tax revenue in Maine and, as pointed out in the editorial, the property tax is “an outmoded and regressive form of taxation that is particularly punishing for the elderly on fixed incomes.”

Much has been made of the state paying hospitals the money owed to them, but little is said about the millions owed to municipalities and their property taxpayers.

Reductions in revenue sharing, general purpose aid to and federal support of education, and the increasing costs of county government are besieging the property taxpayer. At the same time, the burden of providing and paying for essential public services has been irresponsibly handed off to local elected officials.

Governors and legislators who continue to congratulate themselves on not raising “broad-based” taxes are simply not being honest.

Irving Faunce, Wilton