It was early February when LePage took to the road to spread the gospel of tax reform. His opponents kept their powder dry as the Republican governor, in town after town, pitched income tax cuts for individuals and corporations, the elimination of state aid for local services and targeted tax relief for seniors.

In Bangor on Wednesday, Democrats announced they were joining the conversation, with a plan to compete with LePage’s.

“For months it’s been a one-sided debate, but the governor has started an extremely important conversation about our tax system,” said House Speaker Mark Eves of North Berwick.

His assessment of the tax code?

“It’s rigged for those at the top. What the governor has proposed is making that worse, and we are here to make sure this debate is two-sided,” Eves said.

Eves and Senate Minority Leader Justin Alfond, D-Portland, spoke to about 100 people at the Hammond Street Congregational Church, where they extolled the merits of their budget counterproposal, which they’ve dubbed “A Better Plan for Maine.”

The governor has said his plan for cutting the income tax will attract more people to Maine. Specifically, in public forums across the state, he has said it will encourage the wealthy and retirees to relocate or stay here, bringing their disposable incomes and possibly their businesses.

But more than 50 percent of the total income tax cut proposed by the governor would benefit the richest 10 percent of Mainers, the Democrats said, citing state calculations. They returned to that figure again and again as they blasted LePage for embracing “failed trickle-down economics.”

Their own plan takes much of the governor’s proposal as a starting point, ceding that a tax cut is needed. However, it focuses the cuts on the bottom 95 percent of earners, while the richest 5 percent continue to pay more.

The plan also increases state aid for local services such as fire and police departments, which LePage would eliminate entirely, and eases property tax bills through tax credits and exemptions for everyone, which LePage proposed expanding only for seniors.

“We want to make sure Mainers get a little more money in their pocket, but also that communities are strong, healthy, and can prosper into the future,” Alfond said.

During a Q&A session, Alfond and Eves were met by a friendly audience, who applauded their efforts and criticized the governor. The only criticism they faced came not from a political opponent, but from a supporter.

“You are losing in getting out your message,” said Ann Marston, a Bangor resident. She said LePage was winning the battle for Mainers’ hearts and minds by keeping it simple. “He keeps his message to two or three words, sadly: ‘Liberal’ equals ‘welfare’ equals ‘bad,’” she said. “I want you guys to speak more simply, speak more clearly, and be relentless.”

Eves said that stripped to its most basic elements, the Democrats’ plan is simple: income tax cuts for the middle class, property tax relief and investment in education.

Plucking a line straight from the national Democrats’ playbook, Eves said the right strategy is to “grow the economy from the middle out, not the top down.”

When the wealthy get tax breaks, “It’s not going back into our local economies,” he said. “it’s going into a retirement account, or another vacation. But my guess is that everyone here in this room knows what they’d do with an extra $200 or $300 in your pockets. You know where it would be in the next 30 days, or 60 days.”

While Eves and Alfond were bid adieu with loud applause from the audience, it remains to be seen how their efforts to win public support for the “Better Deal” will fare against LePage’s attempt to get Maine voters on his side.

In the end, it isn’t the public that must agree to a budget. That comes down to lawmakers, most notably the 13 members of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, which will chew the Democrats’ proposal along with the governor’s before hammering out a deal for consideration by all 186 members of the House and Senate.

When Cokie Giles, a nurse at Eastern Maine Medical Center, asked how she could help ensure the Democrats’ plan wins, Eves urged supporters to write letters to the editor, talk to their friends and lastly — but perhaps most importantly — call their legislators.

The Democrats will hold their next public forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, at Camp Ketcha in Scarborough

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