Comparing Maine & New Hampshire

TWEET THIS USING THIS SHORT LINK http://goo.gl/u2fKk0

New Hampshire features a state by state comparison on its website. This is the comparison to Maine.

Interesting to note that despite New Hampshire NOT taxing personal income, NOT having a sales tax, and NOT having an estate tax, it's top corporate income tax is still lower than Maine's .

Top Corporate Income Tax

New Hampshire 8.5%

Maine 8.93%

An explanation for this may be Maine's two-tier income tax whereby Maine offers corporations providing jobs of an income level above the median household income, tax exemptions and cash payouts - but taxes businesses offering jobs that pay the medium household income or below under general laws.

I would argue that such a practice is unconstitutional by Article IV Part Third Section 14 of the Maine Constitution which stipulates that "All corporations, however formed, are subject to general laws"

I suspect that all of the state by state comparisons that one finds are based on Maine's general laws and not on the special interest laws developed specifically by Maine State Inc for it's targeted sector.

Since the wealthiest and largest corporations in the state are granted tax exempt status by the CEO's of Maine State Inc as they wheel and deal in the market place in the way that all corporations wheel and deal in the market place, that means that the general taxes charged to the bottom half of the economic landscape must be charged at a higher rate. ( I think that's called the rich get richer and the poor get poorer economic strategy)

This is the problem when the legislature starts considering itself to be above the constitution, and the state then begins to function as a corporation wheeling and dealing in a free enterprise marketplace. It's one thing for a corporation to make bargains with it's own assets but in the case of the corporate state, it is wheeling and dealing with the assets of the general public, with the lives of the people whose interests our elected representatives are supposed to serve. However the CEO's of the corporate state are not our elected representatives - they are tzars- unelected officials appointed by the state, and they are the one's bargaining with the taxpayers money, although at some point they have to get approval from the government side of the "public-private relationship"

2014 Legislative Session

2014. An Act To Improve Maine's Ability To Attract Major Private Investments

7.  Qualified employee.   "Qualified employee" means a person:

A.  Who is a full-time employee of a certified or qualified applicant;

B.  Whose income from employment under paragraph A is taxable under chapter 803;

C.  For whom a retirement program is provided subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 United States Code, Sections 101 to 1461, as amended;

D.  For whom health insurance is available; and

E.  Whose income calculated on a calendar year basis is greater than the per capita annual income in the State as determined by the United States Department of Commerce.

When a state is transformed into a corporation, the corporate no longer serves the people. Instead the people become the instrumentalities of the state. We see that in the trade off clearly delineated in LePage's failed jobs bill. The section on "qualified workers" is in the bill because the workers are the corporate bargaining chips. In exchange for the owners tax-free status and other involuntary gifts from Maine taxpayers, corporations must deliver 1500 qualified workers to the state. That's the deal.( fortunately the upgrade to 1500 workers didn't pass but's its the deal for up to 250 workers)

And as we see in the escalation of business size sought by the Lepage administration, the purpose of the corporate state is to create a corporate culture in Maine.

There is nothing wrong with a corporate culture having a place in Maine but there is something very wrong with the means being used to achieve that end.

This couldn't be happening in Maine if our legislature abided by our constitution. However in the years that I have been researching the economic development statutes of Maine, I have frequently come across it being said in very high places that no one reads the Maine constitution and so the legislature and the administration feels free to regard themselves as above the rule of law as written in the Maine Constitution.

Recently there a small group of people, calling them selves the Constitutional Coalition set out to change that. It didn't take too long for yellow journalists to drum up a slander campaign claiming the Constitutional Coalition to be domestic terrorists, which was used by Bangor Daily News columnist, Mike Tipping as a promotional campaign for his crowd-funder. I heard he did very well with it.

The time to question our legislature on a constitutional basis is now- during election season but don't count on the Maine media to support that- although I have to give credit to the Bangor Daily News for publishing the Constitutional Coalition's side of the story- which greatly upset Mr Tipping!

As the election season becomes more and more heated even the social media becomes more and more restricted to the specially selected political talking points. Sites with general names turn out to be campaign centers for political candidates and administrators become very upset when posters to not stick to the designated talking points- which does not include the constitution.