Greetings, this is Josh Tardy, leader of the Republicans in the Maine House.
Four weeks from now, the Legislature will convene for a Second Session that will be anything but pleasant. The dominating factor will be the continuing shortfall in state revenues. In July, a new two-year state budget went into effect, totaling $5.8 billion. That is $500 million lower than the last budget, marking the first time in decades that the state’s budget has actually gone down. Next month, legislators will be told that we have to cut an additional $383 million. Revenue from the sales tax, the corporate tax and the income tax is running below worst-case projections.