“You Want To Play Chicken? Let’s Play Chicken” Maine Governor Threatens Shutdown Over Proposed Tax Hike
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Jun 30, 2017
Connecticut isn’t the only state in New England that’s facing a budget showdown today. As Reuters reports, Maine is bracing for a possible partial government shutdown on Friday – what would be the first in the state since 1991 – as Republican Governor Paul LePage has warned he will reject any budget deal that does not cut income taxes.
LePage, a second-term Republican who faced national scrutiny and calls to resign earlier this year after making an allegedly racist comment about out-of-state drug dealers worsening the heroin epidemic in Maine, said he would declare a state of civil emergency if a budget is not reached by midnight, which would keep state police, prisons, parks and tax collection services but close most other aspects of state government, according to Reuters.
“I will tell you this: If they put a tax increase, ready for a shutdown. End of story,” LePage said in a Thursday interview on Maine’s WGAN radio. “They’re playing chicken at 100 miles per hour and I’m telling you something, you want to play chicken, let’s play chicken.”
The conflict at the center of the budget showdown is the issue of funding the state’s schools, as Reuters explains.
“Legislators are negotiating a roughly $7 billion two-year budget, with the main sticking point being how to fully fund state schools. Voters in November passed a measure imposing a 3 percent income tax on state residents who earn more than $200,000 a year, a measure the governor and statehouse Republicans object to.
The Democratic Speaker of the state House of Representatives, Sara Gideon, has blasted the threat of a shutdown, saying earlier this week, “We must find a path forward and close this budget.”
Maine state law gives the governor 10 days to respond to any budget passed by the legislator. LePage warned on Thursday he planned to wait that long before vetoing any budget that raised taxes. Most of the government would be shut during that time.”
Delays this year in negotiations leave the state, with a heavily tourist-dependent economy, facing the prospect of a partial government shutdown at the start of the long July 4 holiday weekend”
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