LANSING – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer targeted education and help for unemployed people in a $67.1-billion state budget unveiled Thursday that she said is aimed at ensuring the state recovers quickly from the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic.
Improving bridges, roads and other state infrastructure is also a major focus of the budget plan, which proposes no tax increases.
In terms of priorities, Whitmer said her 2022 spending plan cannot be separated from a $5.6-billion supplemental spending plan for 2021 that she requested in January as a major coronavirus recovery package. It proposes $225 million aimed at small businesses, more than $90 million to step up vaccinations, and billions for food assistance and schools. It has not yet been approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature.
The new plan would exempt the first $1 million in loan proceeds from state taxes, a break that would apply to 99% of the Maine businesses that received PPP funds last year. But over 200 recipients, including some large employers, would still be taxed.
Home → Mills Administration Proposes Compromise PPP Tax Solution Providing Full State Tax Relief to Maine Small Businesses Most In Need
Mills Administration Proposes Compromise PPP Tax Solution Providing Full State Tax Relief to Maine Small Businesses Most In Need
February 9, 2021
The Mills Administration today offered a solution to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) tax conformity issue that would extend full state tax relief to more than 99 percent of Maine businesses that received PPP. The proposal would match the Federal government’s double benefit on the first $1 million of PPP received, an approach that would result in full tax relief for Maine’s small businesses who need it most and partial relief to those Maine businesses that received more than $1 million in PPP.
Keeping what works: This is why Delaware must preserve budget stabilization | Opinion Dave Burris, Special to the USA TODAY Network
Watch: Delaware Gov. John Carney s second inauguration
Replay Video UP NEXT
Recently, State Rep. John Kowalko and others introduced legislation (once again) to raise taxes on Delaware’s highest earners. This has been a crusade of self-styled “progressive” legislators for many years. They decry the current state income tax system, whereby all income over $60,000 is taxed at 6.6%, as “unfair.” Someone will need to help me understand how it is unfair when one person earns $50,000 and pays $2,388 in taxes, and another person earns $500,000 and pays $31,984 in taxes. The higher earner pays significantly more in taxes and pays a higher percentage of their income, which is the literal definition of a progressive tax structure.
Largest bond bill ever proposed
Gov. John Carney released his fiscal year 2022 budget Jan. 28. FILE PHOTO
Melissa Steele January 29, 2021
Gov. John Carney unveiled a $4.7 billion budget Jan. 28 for fiscal year 2022, $70 million more than the 2021 budget but $125 million less than 2020 s.
“We were prepared when 2020 came and revenue dropped,” Carney said, touting his budget-smoothing process that creates a reserve in case of economic downturn.
The 2022 operating budget increases 3.5 percent while putting aside $131 million in the Budget Stabilization Fund. About $60 million was used last year to balance the revenue shortfalls in the 2021 budget.
The bond bill for capital improvements is $894 million, providing money for transportation and state projects.