October 10, 2008 - 1:56pm

Breaking

Fed up with Taxes raises $2.1 million, spends $1.7 million

By Jessica Alaimo, PolitickerME.com Reporter

UPDATED 4:20 p.m. with a statement from the No on One Coalition

UPDATED 3:57 p.m. with details of Health Coverage for Maine's finance report

UPDATED 3:51 p.m. with comments from Newell Augur of Fed Up with Taxes

Fed up with Taxes, the group behind the people’s veto of the recently passed beer, wine and soda taxes, raised $1.5 million during the third quarter, bringing their grand total up to $2.1 million.

The new taxes would fund Dirigo, the state's health insurance program.

Fed up with Taxes spent $1.2 million during Q3, a total of $1.7 million this cycle. They have $439,520 cash on hand.

PolitickerME.com is working on a full breakdown of the finance report, but here are some of the highlights:

The Pepsi Bottling Group gave $440,1000, the Coca-Cola Bottling Company gave two donations of $112,200, and Anheuser-Busch gave $120,000.

Fed up with Taxes paid $205,000 to a Seattle company to “acquire voter file, process, sign microtargeting clusters, 35,000 voter self mailers, printing, production, mailing list, postage.” They paid $262,814 to a Washington, D.C. group for phone outreach and data entry, and $103,411 for a media buy for the Republican and Democratic national conventions.

Newell Augur, director of the Fed up with Taxes, said that every single one of its donors “has a vested interest in the Maine economy.”

“Their products are sold by Maine businesses,” Augur said. “It’s a direct investment in the Maine economy. They’re very concerned about the $75 million tax.”

The donor list includes employers in the state and associations of Maine businesses, such as the Associated Builders and Contractors. The Maine Innkeepers Association and the Maine Restaurant Association had donated to them in the past.

Although the October report only shows one $100 individual contribution, Augur said there had been more in the past.

Health Coverage for Maine, the group opposing the referendum, raked in $42,385 this quarter, with $40,000 coming from the American Medical Association. They spent $39,999 this quarter.

Their biggest expenditure was $25,000 to a Winthrop group, Maine Directions, for campaign management services.

The group has $51,328 cash on hand.

A prepared statement from the No on One Coalition said Maine residents should be appaled at the amount of out of state money coming into the state. “The huge amounts of money being spent by the beer, wine and soda industry sends a strong message that they don’t care about health coverage or keeping Maine children healthy,” the release stated.

It continued:

“Think how many Maine children could be covered by affordable, quality health coverage with $2.1 million. Think about how many small businesses could provide their employees with health coverage with $2.1 million”.

“This is clear proof that this has never been, or will ever be, a Maine-based campaign about taxes. This campaign is setting both new highs and new lows for referenda in Maine – the beer and soda industry is jeopardizing affordable health coverage for Maine kids, adults and small businesses.”

JESSICA ALAIMO is a PolitickerME.com Reporter and can be reached via email at jessica.alaimo@politickerme.com.

Related topics: Fed Up with Taxes, PAC reports

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Comments

No on One coalition

posted by Fed Up

The beer and soda industry is not "jeopardizing affordable health coverage for kids, adults, and small businesses". They are simply reacting to extremely unfair and discriminatory legislation that was passed on them in the middle of the night with no public hearing. In fact, these companies are some of the top companies to work for in the state. By the way, they already make health care a priority in the state by providing health insurance to thousands of families that work for them before this tax was put on their backs. Why should the beverage industry have to bear the burden of Dirigo and not other industries? Dont tell me its because their products are unhealthy. What about hard liquor, Shipyard Beer, and Gearys Beer? Are these products good for you? No, but they are not part of this tax because of the way the Democrats conveniently worded the legislation.

The beverage industry(like just about every other industry) has been hit hard recently with escalating fuel and commodity costs. They are not public ATM Machines for Democrats to fund their crappy train wreck programs like Dirigo(probably one of the worst ideas in the history of Maine politics. Does anyone even dare refute this fact). Shame on this legislature and how they passed this tax through.

The beverage guys are not the bad guys, they are simply standing up for themselves. They absolutely cant absorb this cost nor do they want to pass it on to the stores who ultimately will pass it on to the consumers. They are not the ones that passed an extra $70 million in taxes on the Maine people, it is the Augusta Democrats and the Governor who did this. Thank God they are standing up to this thing and are saying that enough is enough already! Show Augusta you are angry about this new tax and Vote Yes on 1 in November.

10/10/08 5:33 pm

While I agree the manner in

posted by WaterIsBetter

While I agree the manner in which the legislation was passed was unfair consider two things.

1) The rising obesity epidemic and its affect on health care costs.

2) Soda's rising popularity and its affect on obesity including childhood obesity.

Granted this bill is not focused enough to be a true value added tax but knowing the correlation one might rather consider making lemonade from this lemon?

Also I would like to know:

1) Average markup of soda from syrup at restaurants in Maine

2) Ratio of soda sold at national chains in Maine vs Maine owned restaurants

10/10/08 6:11 pm

Yes, the obesity epidemic is

posted by fed up

Yes, the obesity epidemic is a concern. So then I ask you why tax things like Diet Coke, sparkling waters made by Poland Springs, San Pelligrino, Perrier, Crystal Light, Sunny D, Honest Tea, Vitamin Water, Polar seltzers, and Hannaford brand Seltzers? Surely you must admit that these products are good purchases vs traditional Coke and Pepsi. That is part of the reason this tax is so unfair. The state defines a taxable soft drink as anything except still water and 100% juice, so all of these aforementioned products will be lumped in as soft drinks. This is ridiculous! And they did not tax any hard liquor or Maine microbrews. So Allens Coffee Brandy (the number one consumed spirit in the state) has no tax from this law but Polar Seltzer water is taxed? This "sin tax" arguement carries no weight.

If the effect of obesity on the health care system was the primary concern, the legislature could just as easily passed a tax on pizza shops, ice cream shops, fast food restaurants, and the lobster industry (who doesnt eat lobster with a boatload of fatty butter or nestled in a roll with mayonaise). What about Donuts, Bagels, Tirra Misu etc? Surely these things have a greater impact on obesity than the beverage industry.The beverage Industry has changed quite a bit in the last 10 years. Consumers are gravitating towards bottled water and diet soft drinks. The beverage Industry has self regulated itself by offering more of these healthy options to accommodate consumer demand.

FYI carbonated soft drinks consumption is on the decline and all of the schools in the state have policed themselves (with the help of the beverage industry) to make sure that they are only marketing things like bottled water,diet soft drinks, and sports drinks to kids. So if the Coke or Pepsi bottler is serving a school cafeteria, they are obligated to serving things like Dasani Water, Gatorade, Diet Coke, and Vitamin Water. This took place years ago. Also, healthy eating/drinking is a habit that should be taught in the home, rather than force fed to our citizens from politicians in Augusta.

1) Markup on soda from syrups is generally strong vs bottled drinks. Bottled stuff is generally marked up 35-40%. Syrups are usually much higher, unless they are being used in mixed drinks at a bar, where they are not marked up at all.
2) Ratio of National chains to Maine restaurants is probably about 50%/50%.

10/10/08 8:12 pm

Okay I see your point with

posted by WaterIsBetter

Okay I see your point with Vitamin Water etc. One might argue the questionable benifit of artificial sweeteners but the jury is still out on that. A value added tax would have to be more specific and anyways would be better on a national and not state only scale.

However one might argue that Allens Coffee Brandy is Maine owned and employs Maine workers. Moxie as well would be immune to bill correct? Poland Springs would of been immune if they were not bought by an out of state company.

If the Maine economy is the issue how is not supporting 100% Maine grown companies not a good thing? It is fine for a state to give a tax credit to a company wanting to set up shop. I see this as another way of doing that for every business which keeps their headquarters here.

10/10/08 8:36 pm

MMA reaps a good deal

posted by Ken Lindell

It is interesting that the Maine Medical Association (MMA) paid $40,000 towards the anti-peoples' veto campaign. According to http://maineopengov.org MMA received about $100,000 from the Dirigo Health Agency as a "consulting fee".

Curious-er and curious-er...

10/10/08 9:30 pm