Eye on Augusta: Legislature Passes Tax Breaks for 28,000 Businesses and 160,000 Unemployed Workers
by Andy OâBrien (Photo: Dan Kirchoff)
Andy O’Brien is communications director at Maine AFL-CIO. He is a former managing editor of The Free Press and a former state legislator. His Eye on Augusta column appears every other week in The Free Press. Last Thursday, the Maine Legislature passed a supplemental budget package that will provide a full state tax exemption to federal Paycheck Protection (PPP) grants for 28,000 profitable businesses as well as tax breaks on the first $10,200 of federal unemployment benefits for 160,000 unemployed workers.
Republicans initially blocked the two-thirds votes necessary to pass the spending package in order to demand another $32 million in additional business tax cuts, including foreign-derived intangible income, to mirror the federal tax code. However, during floor debate, Republican leaders could not ex
Nora Flaherty Wed, 03/03/2021 - 1:45pm
A safe, secure home is a fundamental need, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the pandemic has made the housing situation even tougher for many Mainers, with more than 5,000 Maine men, women and children facing eviction and homelessness every year.
And once a person becomes homeless, the private housing market makes it extremely difficult for them to find a new place to live.
Advocates and legislators say Maine’s housing system needs comprehensive policy change to take care of all Mainers.
A slate of bills in the Maine legislature will make it easier for Mainers to stay in their homes, to find food, shelter and support when they experience homelessness, and to find and secure housing.
Book club friends start community refrigerator to help hungry in Skowhegan
The idea of freeges, short for free food refrigerators, took root in New York City and has spread across the nation, allowing donors and beneficiaries a veil of anonymity.
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Patsy Miller, left, and Maureen Davis stock the free community refrigerator Saturday outside the Skowhegan Regional Chamber of Commerce at 23 Commercial St.
Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
SKOWHEGAN As Maureen Davis was listening weeks ago to National Public Radio, she learned about community refrigerators that had been set up in New York City to help those who are food insecure.
Black Mainers are less likely to own a business than white residents, and those who do report earning substantially less money than white peers, according to publicly available data.
While this is consistent with national trends, a lack of detailed, up-to-date statistics hampers deep, state-level analysis. Researchers and advocates say more information is needed to understand the situation in Maine and take steps to reduce disparities.
“The Census Bureau withholds a lot of the data for small groups, which unfortunately means not much data for Black communities,” said James Myall, a policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy.