Here are the programs LePage might slash to pay for income tax cuts

In a press release today, Gov. Paul LePage insisted that he has continued to meet with Republican leaders to offer “compromises” toward lowering the income tax.

Cutting the income tax is a pillar of LePage’s budget proposal, which the governor himself said last week was “dead.”

He blames Democrats for scuttling his income tax cut plans (“Democrats led an effort to strip all income tax relief for Mainers in this budget. They have done so behind closed doors in the dark of night,” he said).

But Senate Republicans are working with Democrats to cobble together a deal by the end of the month to avert a government shutdown. House Republican leaders are sticking with LePage.

As budget negotiators get closer a deal that rejects the governor’s proposals for income tax cuts, sales tax increases and welfare reform, LePage said he’s still got ideas.

To that end, the governor’s office released “a comprehensive list of potential spending cuts [lawmakers] might consider.” Here’s the list, which includes such efforts as the elimination of General Assistance the Maine Drugs for the Elderly, closure of the Downeast Correctional Facility, and other drastic cuts.

The release state’s the LePage doesn’t necessarily endorse all the cuts, but each one made the list designed to give GOP lawmakers ideas of where they might consider pointing the axe in an effort to cut income taxes.

You can see the full list here.

Mario Moretto

About Mario Moretto

Mario Moretto has been a Maine journalist, in print and online publications, since 2009. He joined the Bangor Daily News in 2012, first as a general assignment reporter in his native Hancock County and, now, in the State House. Mario left the BDN in 2015.