Just as you begin recovering from the shock of paying last year’s taxes, along comes a report claiming you are really paying far more. In a 24-page study, Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm in Nashville, finds that the U.S. tax burden is actually 30 percent greater than it appears. The culprit? Complexity, […]
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A look back at the week’s news
On Monday afternoon, the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs will hear testimony on a bill that is such a bad idea it must not pass beyond the public hearing stage. The bill, sponsored solely by Rep. Tyler Clark, R-Easton, would prohibit students with poor academic records from getting driver’s licenses until they are 18 […]
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Pulitzer raises questions about paper’s coverage
The Pulitzer Prize awarded to the Los Angeles Times this week seems to show as much about what’s wrong with journalism and democracy today as what’s right. The Times won journalism’s most coveted prize, the annual public service award, last week for its coverage of the pay scandal in Bell, California. There, seven municipal officials […]
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We can’t play chicken with debt limit
The U.S. got a frightening wake-up call Monday. And we’re not talking about Standard and Poors downgrading of long-term U.S. debt. That was bad enough. Here’s what we need to worry about right now: Nearly 70 percent of Americans are opposed to lifting the nation’s debt ceiling. We certainly understand the sentiment. We have been […]
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Smart Meters controversial in Southern Maine
How will people in Western Maine respond to having the so-called Smart Meters installed on their homes? No word yet, mainly because Central Maine Power hasn’t begun installing them yet in this region. The meters, which are more precise and capable of transmitting information to CMP, have been a hot topic in southern Maine. About […]
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Time to take a good look at bottle bill
After more than 30 years, it’s clear that Maine’s returnable beverage container law, or bottle bill, works. Our streams and highways are relatively free of discarded containers. But, after three decades, it’s also worth sitting down and seeing if there is a better way to accomplish the same goal. That’s why we favor LD 1255, […]
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A marketplace of healthy competition
Gov. Paul LePage is right. The people of Maine ought to be able to buy health insurance just the same as any other product or service they buy, in a competitive market from the best company at the best price. And that means we must have the option of purchasing health insurance, as individuals and […]
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A look back at the week’s news
A bicycle tax? Wouldn’t that discourage bicycle purchases instead of encouraging them, as we should? It would, which makes any surcharge on bikes an incalculably bad idea. Sen. Ron Collins, who represents towns in York County — which has some of the best bike riding in the state — wants to tax retail bike sales […]
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Budget will test nation’s capacity to share sacrifice
On the eve of tax day, about half of Americans say they feel their federal taxes are fair, according to an Associated Press story. Which is less surprising when put in this context: about half of American households paid no federal income taxes at all in 2009. Either their incomes were too low or they […]
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Our county, our lives, our pride
The latitude for the cities of the Androscoggin may never change, but the attitude of the people who live in these cities sure can. And for good reason. Androscoggin County is safe, scenic, centrally located and holding steady in the job market. Sound like a chamber of commerce pitch? It is. Since February, Androscoggin County […]