Troy Jackson is the president of the Maine Senate.
All across the state, Mainers are working hard to make ends meet amid rising costs from health care and prescription drugs to child care and housing. Recent increases in property taxes at the local level have only made things worse.
There is no question that lawmakers need to do more to make it easier for Mainers to live, work, raise a family and retire in Maine. This starts with property tax relief.
For years, my Senate Democratic colleagues and I have been raising the alarm about property tax burdens and prioritizing property tax relief in the Maine Legislature.
While I’m glad that my Republican legislative colleagues are finally speaking out about Mainers’ property tax burden, I wish they would match their election-year rhetoric with action. Better yet, I wish they would trade their election-year myths for the truth.
But this is nothing new for many Republican leaders during an election year. In past cycles, they’ve lied about my record on and support for law enforcement. Only to acknowledge the truth after the election was over. They’ve blamed first-time candidates for votes they couldn’t possibly have taken. And they now say they are prioritizing property tax relief when in reality, they have long focused on income tax cuts.
Property tax increases are a problem. But Democrats in Augusta haven’t voted to increase your property tax. Instead, we’ve voted to deliver relief and we are committed to doing more.
It was Senate Democrats who restored the Property Tax Deferral Program for older Mainers to help seniors who fall behind on property taxes remain in their homes and a part of our communities. In fact, since re-establishing the program, we’ve expanded it.
We also have steadily increased the Homestead Exemption and the Property Tax Fairness Credit. Over the past two years, we have expanded eligibility for the credit and increased the maximum benefit to $2,000 for eligible Mainers over the age of 65. In addition to the $500 increase, this initiative ensures that folks won’t see a reduction in benefits due to the loss of a spouse.
In addition, we’ve restored revenue sharing, a program slashed to pay for income tax cuts that primarily benefited the wealthy under the LePage Administration. We’ve also fully funded the state’s share of K-12 public education funding and put money in an Education Rainy Day Fund to ensure we can keep our promises to municipalities; all while targeting property tax relief towards veterans.
When it comes to property tax relief, Senate Democrats have matched words with action. But this isn’t about pointing fingers and placing blame or saying we’ve done enough. Instead, we should focus on the future and getting things done.
Lawmakers in Augusta should increase revenue sharing, which towns use to fund local police departments, fire departments, EMS and other essential services to shift the burden away from property taxpayers. Lawmakers should focus on investing in targeted relief programs for our seniors, working-class families and veterans instead of tax breaks for the wealthy elite.
We need to do more to help Mainers afford to live, work, raise a family and retire in the state we all love. But Mainers deserve more than election-year posturing and finger-pointing from Republican lawmakers and candidates.
Maine people deserve elected officials who are willing to sit at the table, work across party lines and get things done. They deserve leaders who don’t just talk but are willing to act and have a track record to prove it.
