The Maine House and Senate passed a bill this week that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour next year. The successful floor votes could make Maine the thirteenth state, along with Washington D.C., to pass a law to raise their hourly wage floor to at least $15 — unless Gov. Janet…
One of the few remaining paths to taxing the wealthy in Maine this session closed on Tuesday when a legislative panel delayed a proposal to create new top tax brackets. Since gaining control of the legislature in 2018, Democrats in Augusta have failed to raise taxes on the wealthy, many of whom reaped major benefits…
A state lawmaker wants to repeal the LePage-era tax cuts on Maine’s wealthiest estates to help fund the state’s urgent need for housing. It is not the first time Rep. Ben Collings, a Democrat representing Portland in his fourth term, has introduced legislation to amend Maine’s estate tax. “I’ve submitted this bill, I think it’s…
The Maine Legislature’s Democratic-controlled Taxation Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to kill a bill that would have made the wealthiest Mainers pay a higher income tax rate, lessening the burden on middle- and low-income property taxpayers. One path to raising taxes on the wealthy remains open, however, but its likelihood of becoming law is unclear…
Republicans in the Maine Legislature have put forward at least seven bills targeted at curbing increases to the minimum wage or lowering the base wage for some workers, even as Mainers struggle with the increased cost of basic goods. At the same time, progressives lawmakers have introduced a series of bills to raise workers’ pay,…
On Jan. 1, Maine’s minimum wage increased from $12.15 an hour to $12.75 an hour and the tipped minimum wage went from $6.08 to $6.38. That rise — the result of a 2016 referendum that gradually upped the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 and tied the wage to the cost of living…
The Maine People’s Alliance (of which Beacon is a project) released this week its annual legislative scorecard, rating state policymakers for their votes on legislation ranging from tax fairness measures, to expanding access to health care and housing, to racial equity among others. “With a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both chambers, our state…
Around 20,000 units. That’s the shortage of affordable housing options in Maine. That fact— combined with the 25,000 Maine households on a waitlist for federal Section 8 housing vouchers, the nearly 60% of renters in the state who spend half their income on housing, and the 5,500 evictions that happen every year — has advocates…
Wabanaki nations, lawmakers and allies are urging Gov. Janet Mills to sign a bill that would allow tribes in Maine to conduct gaming operations, arguing that the legislation would represent a step toward recognizing the nations’ inherent sovereignty and would make available an important economic development initiative that is open to other tribes around the…
Since winning majorities in the Maine Senate and House in 2018, Democrats have yet to regain some of the state revenue lost to LePage-era tax cuts favoring the wealthy and corporations. That trend may finally end as progressive lawmakers have advanced a progressive revenue bill to the desk of Gov. Janet Mills — just one…