The member-led board of the Maine People’s Alliance (of which Beacon is a project) has endorsed Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Troy Jackson in his race against Sen. Susan Collins, along with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Hannah Pingree, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree in the 1st Congressional District, and Matt Dunlap in the 2nd Congressional District. “Troy has…
Update as of Friday, April 10: Gov. Janet Mills has signed the budget into law. Maine’s House and Senate on Thursday passed a supplemental budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year that incorporates one of the more progressive changes to our tax structure that Maine has seen since at least the early 2000s, with the addition…
The legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee has approved a proposal to add a “millionaire’s tax” to the state’s supplemental budget. The amendment will add a 2% surcharge on annual income over $1 million for single filers and $1.5 million for married couples and other filers. “I just started overwhelmingly crying when I found out…
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner brought together state lawmakers and a frontline nurse Tuesday night for a “Tax the Rich” town hall, where they called for raising taxes on the ultra wealthy to fund universal health care and public services. Mainers packed the South Portland Community Center, with dozens listening in overflow, to hear…
Eighteen Maine Senators and 57 Representatives received 100% scores in Maine People’s Alliance’s annual legislative scorecard. (Beacon is a project of MPA.) The scorecard released this week highlights legislators’ votes on housing, workers’ rights, paid family and medical leave, child care, transgender rights, immigration, climate change, and tax fairness. It also includes a review of…
When mobile home park residents in several communities across Maine received rent hike notices this summer, some landlords pointed to a new state law as the reason. But some residents — and the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Cheryl Golek (D-Harpswell) — are pointing out that owners have been dramatically increasing rent since well before Golek introduced…
Parents, educators, advocates, and lawmakers gathered at the State House on Thursday with a clear message: Maine must raise taxes on the wealthiest individuals and most profitable corporations doing business here, to fund the programs people rely on in the state budget — not make cuts to vital programs. Speakers urged lawmakers to support policies…
Let’s be very clear about one thing — we will not build our way out of Maine’s current housing crisis in time to avoid significant damage to Maine’s working and middle class. In 2023, a comprehensive statewide report said that we need between 75,000 and 85,000 new units of housing by 2030 in order to…
Allan Ayotte, 69, lives in a mobile home park in Norridgewock. He retired at 67 years old due to health issues with no pension or retirement funds; so when he saw a mobile home for sale within his budget, he bought it. He lived there for three months before the owners sold the park, and…
As the Trump Administration continues its efforts to fund huge billionaire tax cuts by raising the cost of living and making it harder for Americans to access health care, housing, food assistance and education, Mainers, including some with very high incomes, are calling for the state’s wealthiest residents to pay what they truly owe our…