On April 15 testimony was heard before the Taxation Committee in support of L.D. 428, an Act to Prevent Tax Haven Abuse.

This act would hold corporations accountable to pay taxes on all the profits from income generated in Maine. The corporations have used these havens to help them avoid paying their fair share of taxes.  That is unfair and needs to be changed.

I owned a small business for 35 years, and every year I paid taxes on the profit my business made. Why is a corporation allowed to hide some of its profits in tax havens? In Maine there is no tax haven that protects citizens or small business owners from paying taxes on the income or the profit they generate.

I was a school board member for 20 years, and am now the chair of our town’s planning board. In these roles I have seen students struggle to access basic services, and observed landowners deal with rising property taxes. It is appalling that corporations are benefiting from a tax loophole when education, social programs and property taxes are being negatively impacted.

The corporate lobbyists and lawyers use accounting schemes to hide some of the profits generated by large corporations here in Maine. Those lobbyists and lawyers will try to dissuade our representatives and senators from enacting this legislation. We cannot let that happen.

I ask people to contact their representatives and senators about supporting L.D. 428.

Sidney Pew, East Andover

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