Robert Charles on Tax Reform

Provide a $100,000 property tax exemption to all Mainers

BENNETT: Our taxes overall are far too high in this state. The focus of my administration will be on the property tax first. The property tax is inequitable. It hits everybody in this state in hard ways.

PINGREE: I propose to double the homestead exemption, I think we should open up our constitution and think about how we tax second homes owned by nonresidents, wealthy folks here in the summertime.

CHARLES: Here is my tax plan. On property taxes, we will provide a $100,000 property tax exemption to all Mainers. It will not be, as the democrats have done, $25,000 or reimbursed at 76%. It is reimbursed at 100% so the town and individuals get the benefit of the tax. That flows back into the economy again. I'm going to provide additional tax break for veterans, on the income tax, about a billion dollars in the first year, and we keep moving it down.

Eliminate burdensome regulations and abolish the income tax