AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Republican Party will pursue the phase-out and elimination of the income tax, as well as welfare reform, at the ballot box.

GOP Chairman Rick Bennett received the go-ahead from the state committee on June 18 to “dedicate and deploy any and all party resources he deems necessary” to get both issues directly to voters.

“Maine families should have the right to keep more of what they earn. Maine’s oppressive income tax discourages investment, stifles opportunity and kills jobs,” Bennett said in a news release issued Monday. “Further, the vast majority of Mainers understand the imperative need to bring common-sense fixes to our bloated welfare system. They see the abuse and the waste in the system every day.”

Reducing the state’s income tax — on the way to eliminating it — and instituting welfare reform were key goals of Republican Gov. Paul LePage this year — the first of the governor’s second term.

And while lawmakers made a small dent in the income tax in their bipartisan budget deal and took some steps toward welfare reform, including the elimination of the “welfare cliff,” LePage and many of his Republican allies were frustrated by the lack of more drastic action.

LePage has earlier pledged to begin in September a citizen initiative to slash the income tax. His goal is to get the question on the ballot in 2016, and the governorhas said he’ll campaign against any politician — Democrat or Republican — who opposes his efforts.