Mainers Support Higher Taxes

Once again, Mainers have shown that when given the choice between lowering their taxes and maintaining "local control," they'll take local control every time.

The most recent example comes from Livermore Falls, a mill town about 30 miles up the Androscoggin River from Lewiston/Auburn. According to this story, Livermore Falls residents voted at the end of June to not fund several town services (including police and emergency services) in protest of plans to close the local transfer station and switch dispatch services to a regional rather than local service. These moves were designed to save taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, it took restoring the "local control" over dispatch and the transfer station to gain approval for reopening the rest of the town government.

The town decided to keep local dispatchers and continue to pay for the transfer
station. But in order to do so, they will have to raise the property tax levy
limit.

Time after time we in Maine are beat about the head with the fact that the state carries the highest tax burden in the country. In fact, according to The Tax Foundation, Maine's State/Local tax burden has been highest in the country every year since 1997. This leads to periodic support for potentially destructive tax-reform legislation.

Yet every time we are given the opportunity to consolidate services to save money (for example school districts, which are extraordinarily inefficiently organized), Mainers squawk. "We want our local control," they say.

Well folks, you can't have it both ways. You can't have neighboring towns paying full-time wages to duplicate services for a few thousand people, and also save money.

Personally, I'm all for paying a few more tax dollars and making sure that Sally down at the clerk's office keeps her job. I see it as akin to shopping at Grand City instead of Wal-Mart. Keep the dollars in the community. Then again, I'm not complaining about my tax rate, though it is undoubtedly too high. Other Mainers do complain about their taxes, but are apparently incapable of seeing the connection between their choices for local governance and the tax rate. So Livermore Falls, you've officially lost your standing to support TABOR this fall, though I've no doubt how the vote will go in that town.