AUBURN — Gov. Paul R. LePage pitched his proposed state budget Friday evening at the Androscoggin County Republican Committee’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner.
His key points are reducing and eventually eliminating the state income tax, solving the state’s high energy costs, and fighting the twin scourges of drugs and domestic violence.
The large audience of supporters voiced loud approval.
LePage underscored his goal of reducing welfare expenses by pointing out that his administration has made significant improvement from the ratings of a few years ago that placed Maine at the top of the nation’s welfare costs. However, he called it “marginal success” because the efforts so far have moved Maine only two places from the highest spot.
The governor said he aims to abolish Maine’s income tax by 2020.
“I have no illusion that it is going to pass easily,” he said, adding he’s committed to achieving an amendment to the Maine Constitution to remove the income tax “because it is the right thing to do.”
He acknowledged that sales tax increases will have to take up the slack in revenue that the income tax now raises.
“We need many bold reforms,” he told the Androscoggin Republicans. “This budget does that.”
The governor also said he intends to “attract career jobs, not minimum wage jobs” to Maine.
He said Sun Life of Canada will be bringing 231 jobs to Scarborough in the near future. The lowest wage they will bring will be $60,000, he said.
The state’s chief executive also said negotiations are going on with two manufacturers, one of which could bring as many as 1,000 jobs to northern Maine.
Returning and retiring military personnel are another segment of the Maine population that can provide valuable assets to the state, he said, and he promised support for those men and women.
“When they come home, we want to be sure we can provide them with jobs,” he said, adding that some of them will start their own businesses.
He also described his efforts to attain relief from high energy costs. That involves working with Massachusetts officials to resolve issues for natural gas through what he called “a bottleneck” at Dracut, Mass.
LePage told the audience that drugs “are killing our kids.” He called the issue “a runaway train,” adding that the effects of drugs “are worse than any disease or war.”
The governor said he will work to improve law enforcement and to address the legal system’s needs.
Closing with an appeal for citizen involvement to stop domestic abuse, he said, “what we need most is for men to stand up and to work with us on this.”
Following the evening dinner, Maine’s 2nd District Congressman Bruce Poliquin delivered the keynote address in which he said his efforts in Washington, D.C. on behalf of Maine “is all about jobs.”
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