May 5, 2008 - 10:04am
Fed UP With Taxes coalition launches signature campaign
By Wally EdgeA group of Maine businesses and other organizations have officially launched a People's Veto campaign to repeal LD 2247, which will raise taxes on beer, wine, soda and health insurance claims. The taxes would support the Dirigo Health program. On their website, www.fedupwithtaxes.org the group describes itself as follows:
Fed Up With Taxes is a coalition of Maine citizens, businesses and organizations who are tired of paying high taxes. The coalition is seeking to undo a recently enacted law taxing flavored water, sports drinks, cola, diet cola, juices AND beer and wine AND all health insurance claims.
Assuming the Secretary of State uses his entire 10 days (he will) to review and approve the question, the group should be able to start by Monday, May 12th. They then have until July 17th, or 67 days to collect 55,000 certified signatures. Realistically the will need to collect over 60,000 signatures to make sure they have enough. To make matters more complicated, they really only have until July 10th as it is generally accepted that you need a week lead time to process and certify the signatures with the local towns before they can be submitted to the Secretary of State.
That's 60,000 signatures in 60 days. It can be done, but it is an extremely ambitious project. They have a few possible advantages with a number of local school budget elections and of course, the June Primary.
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Quote of the Day
July 24, 2008
"(The Democrats) questioned the validity of my signatures," he said. "They all have been vetted and validated by the Secretary of State. They're all registered voters. This is just one more effort to disenfranchise all the voters in Maine who would like to have a third choice in the race for U.S. Senate."
– Independent U.S. Senate candidate Herbert Huffman on the Maine Democratic Party’s appeal of a July 17 Kennebec Superior Court ruling in favor of validating petition signatures that support Huffman’s third party bid for the seat.
-Seacoast Online, 7/24/08
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Who's paying for this?
Ten bucks says this campaign is being instigated and paid for by huge corporations and their big money lobbyists. After all, what does St. Louis care if Mainers lose their healthcare?
Who's paying for this
The opponents of this people veto probably didn't care when money was coming from out-of-state overwhelmingly against TABOR. (Big unions of people on the Gov payroll who didn't think government fiscal restraint anywhere was good for their paychecks.)
If Budweiser or Pepsi have to pay the tax, they'll just pass it along to us the consumers. We're the ones paying for a failed program.
OF course they'll pass it along!
Rather than take a minute hit on their massive profits, some multinational corporations are trying to cut healthcare to poor and elderly people in Maine. Simple as that.
um....
Walt, you realize that this tax would eat up the entire quarterly profit of coca-cola. That is not "minute".
no more
no more taxes, period. Where do I sign?
the entire quarterly profit of coca-cola?!
That sounds improbable. Where'd you get that statistic?
gather signatures
I also want to sign and gather sigantures.
please tell me how.
VAT not CRAP
These types of taxes are knee-jerk reactions to not having enough enough money in a particular program and are done hastily without regard to actual research and numbers representing the true effect of the item being taxed.
A true VAT system would have to be enacted on the national level and would be a lot more efficient with a national health care plan as well. Well researched and enacted it would shift health care cost to those that make conscious choices in their lives that result in such costs.
Value added taxes good for statewide or regional areas would be in the areas where a large percentage of the goods and services applies to tourists visiting Maine. A few percentage points in the right areas would not stop the tourists coming and produce a good amount of added funds for statewide projects.
for walt
Coke's profit for 1st quarter 2008 was 8 million. Before one time charges it was about 33 million. These taxes raise somewhere between 55 and 70 million depending on who you talk to.
You think of coke as making a profit off of every can sold. They really make a profit off the syrup sold to distributors who make the profit off of the cans sold. Coca cola isn't going to be paying this tax, our local distributors are.
Maine- like most other
Maine- like most other states and particularly the federal government- does not have a revenue problem. It has a SPENDING problem.
Mainers must resist not only additional taxes but should insist on cuts in spending so that some existing taxes can be cut. Clearly we cannot count on most of our legislators to do this.
We need TABOR badly!!
Just Plain Fed Up
Its about time that our representatives represent us and not their own political agenda.
Enough is enough, we have to live within our means, and its about time we start to control how our tax money is taken from us and how its spent.
This legislature is way too big and too costly for Maine folks. We could do with a lot less representation, its time to cut this legislature down in size.
Real profit
"ATLANTA - April 16, 2008 (AP) -- The Coca-Cola Co. said Wednesday acquisitions, growth in its key carbonated beverage brands and success overseas helped boost its first-quarter profit by 19% on a 21% increase in sales. The results beat Wall Street expectations, and its shares rose more than 2% in premarket trading.
The world's biggest beverage company said its profit was $1.50 billion, or 64 cents a share, in the three-month period ending March 28. That compared to a profit of $1.26 billion, or 54 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding a one-time charge of 3 cents a share related to restructuring charges and asset write-downs, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola said it earned $1.58 billion, or 67 cents a share, in the quarter."
The Maine Revenue Service says the tax will raise $11.5 million a year.
of course they will pass it along... BUT THAT IS NOT THE PIONT
The POINT IS .... ANOTHER TAX ON MAINERS!
Why is it that people feel that it is anyone responsibility but us as individuals, to pay for our health insurance? It boggles the mind; we are demonized because I do not want to pay more taxes. Be it large corporations or the individual tax payer like me... who's the government (or anyone else for that matter) to say I should pay for someone else's health care? I can not afford to pay for my own health insurance, why in Gods name should I be forced through increased taxes to pay for someone else’s?
But oh no, because SOMEONE ELSE thinks it is the responsibility of anyone (but the individual getting the healthcare) to pay for that individuals health care, I get taxed.
If this state does not wake up and learn to draw a line in the sand and say “NO more taxes”, this state is going to go bankrupt. Families, individuals, and business owners are leaving to go over to NH in large numbers to avoid the cost of living in Maine. With their departure is the tax revenue the state uses to provide programs that propagate migration of benefactors of said programs. So we have hard working residence and business’s that provide jobs, leaving, and users of welfare, subsidized housing, ect ect moving in. Do the math!
If Mainers are willing to fight to take this state back from the tax crazed liberals, I will stay and fight, but if Mainers continue to let bills like TABOR get voted down, as goes TABOR so will go Maine.
If this site can change the most recent tax increase pasted by our money grubbing legislators, I have hope, if not, I will become a New Hampshire Resident.
Taxes
I cannot believe that people are so naive as to believe that these new taxes will not be paid by the citizens of Maine and those dwindling number of tourists who we used to rely on to support our failing state economy!! Corporate profits will not be reduced. Simply put (for those simple people), we will pay substantially more in taxes. This despite a direct order from the citizens of Maine NOT to raise taxes. If the legislature were a business, all those who ignored or failed to follow a direct order from their boss would be fired! So be it! This has absolutely nothing to do with insurance. That is an entirely separate issue.
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