What we all want in Maine are more and better jobs.



And if I thought Question 1, what they call the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, would help us achieve this goal, I’d be all for it. But it won’t – and would likely do just the opposite.


The truth is that economic development requires two things to happen at the same time: control of taxes, for sure, but also investments in things like education at all levels, research and development, and infrastructure (highways, water and sewer, and intermodal facilities).



The problem with TABOR is that it focuses exclusively on the tax side, but cripples us on the investment side.



It’s important to realize that we not only have a tax problem in Maine, but an income problem as well. Our taxes per person are not the highest in the country, but when they are compared to our relatively low incomes, we go to the top of the list.



So, yes, we have to control and bring down taxes (we cut taxes about $450 million a year when I was in Augusta), but we also have to make the investments necessary to raise incomes.



For example, if we collected exactly the same amount in taxes as today, but had Massachusetts’ per-person income, our tax burden (taxes as a percentage of personal income) would be tenth-lowest in the country, and we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.



We don’t have to look very far to see what I’m talking about. Lewiston-Auburn has done about the best job in Maine over the past ten years in building its local economy, including 600 new jobs in just the past year.



Almost $300 million in private money has been invested in this area since 2000, which has created jobs, stimulated existing businesses and made L-A a better place to live and work.



But many of those investments would never have happened without public improvements – road connectors, parking garages, riverfront clean-up – also being on the table.



And those public improvements would have been difficult, if not impossible, had TABOR been in place.



Why? Because under TABOR any increase in expenditures above inflation and population growth, no matter how small – even to bring in new jobs – would require two-thirds of the city council (or town meeting) and a referendum to go into effect.



This turns control of every town and city in Maine over to a one-third minority–and pretty much repeals the whole idea of local control.



I think it’s really significant that the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council – the business organization that has worked so effectively for the past 25 years to create jobs in this area – has come out strongly against Question 1.


They conclude that “…TABOR is flawed and would tie the hands of the state’s community leaders seeking smart economic growth, new investment, and new jobs.”



It was this drag on economic development that caused the business community in Colorado, the only state that has a TABOR, to lead a successful campaign last year to suspend it for five years.



(Why should we want to import something that’s been given a time-out by the only state where it’s ever been tried?)



And out there, even former supporters have turned against it, after they have seen the idea in action.



Steve Johnson, Assistant Republican leader in the Colorado State Senate tells us, “If you think this is a bad dream, it’s a nightmare…You have no idea how bad this will be for the state [of Maine]…our underfunded universities, deteriorating roads, poorly funded schools and inadequate public health system were making it increasingly difficult to attract and retain good jobs.”



That’s it in a nutshell. Anything that makes it “difficult to attract and retain good jobs” Im against.



That’s why I’m voting No on Question 1.



Angus King is former governor of Maine.