LePage retorts to heckler: ‘I would love to tax the rich if we had any in Maine’

[Maine-ah]

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/25/politics/lepage-retorts-to-heckler-%E2%80%98i-would-love-to-tax-the-rich-if-we-had-any-in-maine%E2%80%99/

FARMINGTON, Maine — A talk to a University of Maine at Farmington class by Maine Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday was interrupted by a heckler yelling for LePage to “tax the rich,” leading the governor to retort, “I would love to tax the rich if we had any in Maine.”

Lisa Savage of Solon, a literacy coach at Carrabec High School in North Anson, was escorted from the room by campus police after repeating the phrase, according to The Maine Campus.

“It’s very easy to say ‘Tax the rich,’” LePage said. “The state of Maine averages 80 percent of the national average. In Maine, we make on average about $46,000. New Hampshire, next state over, makes an average of $63,000. They have no income tax, they have no sales tax. Why the heck would anybody cross the border into Maine?”

“So in order for us to be prosperous, then we have to be competitive at the tax level, and we have to encourage those who have money to create jobs,” LePage continued. “Maybe some of you have, but I never have had anyone on welfare give me a job.”

***************
four paragraphs...that's the complete story. The comment section....

[Ian David]

1. Stephen King is rich. n/t

[Maine-ah]

2. and SK has done a lot for our state

especially in Bangor.

We have plenty of "rich" people in Maine. LePage is just an effin' idiot.

[crim son]

9. And Stephen King has publicly asked why he is not paying higher taxes.

n/t

[Maine-ah]

10. yep :)

I <3 SK

[Donnachaidh]

3. hey dumbass -- take a tour of the waterfront at Kennebunkport

And every other waterfront community with big homes.

Kresge family has several vacation homes -- as well as lots of other wealthy families who buy up beautiful lots.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. What, GHWB doesn't live there anymore? nt

[FreakinDJ]

6. He claims his income in a different state

Hence Maine has become the "Sucker State" or "State of being Suckered by Wealthy Elite Tax Loop Holes"

[eppur_se_muova]

22. Of course! TX has no state income tax! I shoulda remembered!

How verrrrrry Republican of him.

[northernlights]

5. LePage needs to visit the coastline

he can start with the Bush compound in Kennebunkport, and just keep heading north.

My own poor little midcoast village had a finance CEO (Putnam as I recall) move in after taking a $40M retirement package a couple years back. We've got Rockefellers here, and Eisenhowers and a whole lot more.

Yeah, Maine's mean income or wealth may be 80% of the rest of the country. That does NOT mean there aren't any rich here. Only that the other 99% of the population is that much poorer.

We have people living in there cars here, too. Imagine that...at 15 degrees below zero (not including wind chill).

[crim son]

11. You're right. But do they claim those places as their

full-time residences? I honestly don't know.

[northernlights]

21. Poppy and Babs certainly do. But what diff does that make?

Only little people pay taxes. Certainly all we little shrimplets should know that by now. :shrug:

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. I feel for the man. Every night Paul LePage....

....goes to sleep in Maine, and dreams he's the governor of Mississippi. But then there are all those colored people. So he wakes right up again.

[snot]

8. The states are in a race to the bottom.

United we stand; divided we fall.

[crim son]

12. If LePage has any aspirations to be a big-time teabagger leader he'd

better learn to keep his mouth shut. :sarcasm:

[fascisthunter]

13. LIAR

[Warren Stupidity]

14. The whole coast of southern maine was bought by Da Rich.

Geesh, what a freaking idiot.

[hfojvt]

16. as non-residents though, they do not pay income tax

the answer to that would seem to be higher property taxes.

[hfojvt]

15. their tax schedule is kinda tough

Tax Rate Schedule #3
For Married Individuals and Surviving Spouses Filing Joint Returns
If the taxable income is: The tax is:
Less than $10,000 2.0% of the taxable income
$10,000 but less than $19,950 $ 200 plus 4.5% of excess over $10,000
$19,950 but less than $39,900 $ 648 plus 7.0% of excess over $19,950
$39,900 or more $2,045 plus 8.5% of excess over $39,900

But their deduction/exemptions are fairly generous
$5,700 for a single person or $9,550 for a married couple plus $2,850 per person. So, for a family of four $20,950 would be tax free, and for a single person $8,550 would be tax free.

Compare that to Kansas where the standard deduction is $3,000 for a single person and $6,000 for a couple and the personal exemption is only $2,250. A family of four only has tax free income of $15,000 here and after that they pay
3.5% of the first $15,000
6.25% of the next $15,000
6.45% of the rest

So a family of four starts paying almost the top rate after household income of $30,000, and the top rate starts at $45,000.

income *** status *** Kansas *** Maine
$15,000 *** single *** $341 *** $123
$30,000 *** single *** $1134 ** $715
$60,000 *** single *** $3059 ** $3026
$120,000 ** single *** $6929 ** $8127
***
$20,000 *** Fo4 **** $175 *** $0 (note Kansas has an EIC that is 10% of the Federal EIC which would reduce the tax to less than zero, to -$145 I am not sure what Maine has I am not seeing such a credit.)
$40,000 *** Fo4 **** $875 **** $607
$100,000 ** Fo4 **** $4538 *** $5373
$200,000 ** Fo4 **** $10,988 * $13,873

It seems to me that Maine is already taxing the rich, at least much more than Kansas is, and is getting less tax from the middle class than Kansas is. 8.5% is already pretty high by state standards and I would be hesitant to bump that up. Higher taxes for the $30,000 - $100,000 range might be in order, although Mainers probably don't wanna hear that. Something like
2% on the first $5,000
3% on the next $5,000
4.5% on the next $5,000
5.5% on the next $5,000
7% on the next $10,000
8% on the next $15,000
8.5% on the next $100,000
9% above that

Reagan and others have pushed the idea that more brackets means more complexity, but that is just stupid. Most people are just reading the tax tables, so it's not more complex for them, and it allows for more progressivity.

[dems_rightnow]

17. Those are very high for state tax rates

Certainly top 10. Maine doesn't appear to be a problem area with taxing high incomes. I am very surprised with how QUICKLY you get to their 7% bracket- $20,000 of taxable. Wow.

[Maine-ah]

18. Maine is one of the highest taxed states in the nation

[hfojvt]

20. not as bad as Kansas for people with moderate income

and Kansas has sales taxes on food (but not on utilities) but also a food sales tax rebate (but only for the elderly and people with children)

[hfojvt]

19. but their deductions are higher

and in Kansas you get near to the top rate very quickly as well. 6.25% begins at $15,000 of taxable and the top rate is only 6.45% and since Maine has much higher deduction $5,700 compared to $3,000 ($9,550 compared to $6,000) and higher exemptions ($2,850 compared to $2,250) you get a higher taxable income with a lower actual income. $40,000 in Kansas is $25,000 in taxable income but only $11,500 in Maine for a family of four.

[Quantess]

23. If it is true that the average income is $46,000

How does that mean there are no rich people in the state? Or even that there are fewer rich people?
I'm not exactly a prize statistician, but...
Who is going to be fooled by that? Maybe a 10 year old?

What is the average wage in Mexico, compared to the richest man in the entire world, who is Mexican.

[Gormy Cuss]

24. At least 3.5% of households are millionaires.

If you look at this study, you will see that Maine is neither one of the highest nor the lowest states when it comes to millionaire households and by inference, it must have at least as many millionaires at the state 10th from the bottom, which has an estimated millionaire household rate of 3.55%.
** millionaire for this study was defined as wealth in liquid assets, which means the property-rich, cash poor aren't included.

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/109083/the-richest-states-in-america

There are roughly half a million households in the state (U.S.census, 2000)so that would suggest that there are 17,500 or so millionaires to tax.

Nice try, LePage.



eta: and another thing: the reason the median income in NH is so much higher is because of its proximity to MA and the ease with which employers could relocate to the cheaper Granite state without losing their MA based employees -- that's just not an option for Maine.

[Jakes Progress]

25. Maine has an asshole for a governor.

That hurts I know. Texas has had one for many years. But this ass in Maine is a real jerk.