Maine Income Tax Abolishment Initiative (2017)

Maine Income Tax Abolishment Initiative
Election date November 7, 2017
Topic Taxes
Status Not on the ballot
Type State statute	Origin Citizens

The Maine Income Tax Abolishment Initiative did not qualify for the ballot in Maine as an indirect initiated state statute on November 7, 2017.

This initiative would have lowered the individual income tax at all income levels. The proposed changes—which would have happened gradually by way of annual adjustments—would have begun in 2018 and stabilized on January 1, 2021, at an income tax rate of 4 percent. The measure also proposed that funding from the Tax Relief Fund for Maine Residents and the Liquor Operation Revenue Fund be used to ultimately shrink the income tax rate to 0 percent.

Text of measure

Summary

The summary of the measure was as follows:

This initiated bill makes changes to the laws governing welfare, gradually lowers the individual income tax until it is 4% in 2021 and dedicates funds to further reduce the individual income tax until it is eliminated. Part A of the initiated bill makes the following changes to the laws governing welfare. 1. It prohibits the use of an electronic benefits transfer card at a tobacco specialty store or at a business when the transaction is for money transmission to a location abroad. 2. It requires the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a request for a waiver to the United States Department of Agriculture each year to allow the Department of Health and Human Services to limit purchases of food under the food supplement program to foods with high nutritional value and to exclude foods with low nutritional value, such as candy and soda. 3. It prohibits the department from providing food assistance and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, or TANF, benefits to an alien who is ineligible for assistance under federal law unless the alien is an asylum seeker who is elderly or disabled, who is already receiving food assistance as of July 1, 2015 and who remains otherwise eligible. 4. It requires any adult applicant for or adult recipient of benefits under the TANF program to be screened and possibly physically tested for the unlawful use of drugs. The outcome of testing may result in that person's being denied or losing TANF benefits if subsequent substance use disorder testing or treatment is not successfully completed. It also allows the State to deny food assistance and TANF assistance to a person who has been convicted of a drug-related felony. 5. It provides that, before TANF assistance may be granted to an applicant by the department, the applicant, if job ready as determined by the department, must complete a department-approved program focused on obtaining employment. 6. It prohibits a recipient of benefits under the TANF program from using an electronic benefits transfer card to access those benefits outside of Maine. 7. It prohibits benefits provided under the TANF program from being used for money transmissions to locations abroad or expended on tobacco, imitation liquor, liquor, gambling, lotteries, bail or other court-imposed fees or fines, tattoos and travel services provided by a travel agent. 8. It changes the time period in which applicants may receive alternative aid and eliminates alternative aid to applicants who are not eligible for TANF benefits due to the 60-month time limit on benefits. 9. It removes all the good cause exceptions, other than the good cause exception for victims of domestic violence, that prevent a person from being sanctioned under the Additional Support for People in Retraining and Employment - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or ASPIRE-TANF, program or the TANF program for failure to participate in the ASPIRE-TANF program. 10. It removes the provision that provides that in accordance with 8 United States Code, Section 1621(d) a person who is lawfully present in the United States or who is pursuing a lawful process to apply for immigration relief is eligible for general assistance. It provides that an alien who is ineligible for assistance under 8 United States Code, Section 1621(a) (2015) is not eligible for general assistance. 11. It provides that any savings attributable to implementation of these statutory changes must be directed to the existing Tax Relief Fund for Maine Residents. Part B of the initiated bill gradually reduces individual income tax rates for all income levels for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018 and institutes a 4% tax rate for individuals for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021. It includes inflation adjustments to the taxable income amounts contained in the tax rate schedules that apply to tax years beginning in 2019 and 2020. It also amends the laws governing the Tax Relief Fund for Maine Residents to enable the fund to be used to reduce the individual income tax rate to 0% and directs certain funds from the Liquor Operation Revenue Fund be used for this purpose once bonds and obligations secured by that fund have been retired.

Full text

The full text of the measure can be found here.

Support

The group that registered to support the petition was the Maine Initiative Source.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Maine and Signature requirements for ballot measures in Maine

• Maine GOP Chairman Richard Bennett submitted the petition, and the measure was issued on November 2, 2015.
• To qualify for the 2016 ballot, proponents needed to collect 61,123 signatures—a number determined by taking 10 percent of the total votes cast for governor in November 2014—by February 1, 2016.
• Bennett announced on January 29, 2016, that supporters had not collected enough signatures for the 2016 ballot.
• To qualify for the 2017 ballot, proponents needed to gather 61,123 signatures by January 26, 2017. No signatures were filed.
• The measure expired on May 2, 2017.

See also

Suggest a link

• 2017 ballot measures
• Maine 2017 ballot measures
• Maine ballot measures