Moments ago, MSEA-SEIU President Ginette Rivard urged the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee to “take a serious look at all tax expenditure and revenue options in Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015. This is necessary for the State of Maine to pay its bills and meet its responsibility to provide quality public services to all Maine people.” Read President Rivard’s testimony below: Senator Hill, Representative Rotundo and members of the Committee: I am Ginette Rivard President of the Maine State Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union. We urge you to take a serious look at all tax expenditure and revenue options in Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015. This is necessary for the State of Maine to pay its bills and meet its responsibility to provide quality public services to all Maine people. You have heard, for many years now, that the State of Maine’s tax code contains approximately $6 billion in biennial tax exemptions. While each state budget reflects a Legislature’s values and priorities, these exemptions have certainly made it difficult for this Legislature and prior Legislatures to meet their responsibility to fund the quality public services Maine people want and deserve. We applaud this committee for finding a way to restore some of the municipal revenue sharing that had been proposed for elimination. It is true that more difficult work remains, but this committee has proven that solutions can be found. Public structures ranging from public health to corrections to our court system have been chronically underfunded for years. Some of these public structures are at the breaking point. This week, for example, understaffing in Maine’s corrections system was cited in a news report documenting 188 assaults since 2007 on workers at the State of Maine’s Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland. Providing services to Maine people requires paying people, and Maine’s public workers are honored to do this important work on behalf of all Maine people. As you know, the State of Maine has been underpaying state workers since July of 2009 by not honoring the merit and longevity provisions of their contracts in all three branches of state government. This has not only made it difficult for a generation of public workers to get by, but it has also contributed to a serious and widely documented public employee recruitment and retention problem for the State of Maine. Many possible solutions to the State of Maine’s insufficient tax code were identified through the recent Tax Expenditure Commission process. Many solutions are also included in the FY 14 and FY 15 supplemental budget proposals pending before you. As difficult as it may be to deal with Maine’s tax code, it is time to take on this critical issue of tax expenditure and revenue options. Ending or rolling back some of the corporate tax subsidies on the books in Maine most likely would not harm the profit margins of the major corporations that have taken advantage of these subsidies. Ending or rolling back some of these corporate tax subsidies would, however, have a positive impact on all Maine people. Doing so would ensure that Maine has the resources to pay its bills and the public structures necessary to keep Maine people safe, our children educated and Maine workers treated with the respect they deserve. Thank you.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 22:28:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015