BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) - Maine Gov. Paul LePage tried to keep a cool head while being pressed by residents and rattled off statistics on the state’s struggling economic growth during his first town hall meeting of 2017 that got heated at times.
The Republican discussed his two-year, $6.8 billion budget proposal - his final offering as governor.
LePage said his budget protects the elderly and prevents economic harm from ballot initiatives that raised the minimum wage and imposed a 3 percent surtax on wealthy individuals’ income to pay for schools.
Not everyone in the crowd was receptive to what LePage was saying.
One resident asked the governor if he thought Mainers were stupid for approving the ballot questions, and another was escorted out by police for yelling at LePage.
Several attendees challenged LePage about his proposed income, corporate and estate tax cuts.
LePage wants to lower the top individual income tax rate from 10.15 percent to a 5.75 percent flat tax and reduce the top corporate income tax rate from 8.93 percent to 8.33 percent. The eventual flat income tax rate would include the 3 percent surtax.
LePage said he wants Maine to attract higher earners and businesses by competing with New England states with lower taxes and other states with cheaper electricity costs.
The minimum wage is increasing to $9 per hour this year. It will go up by $1 the next three years until it reaches $12 in 2020. LePage wants to restore the ability for employers to pay tipped workers below the minimum wage if they make up the difference in tips.
“There are 5,900 people making minimum wage in the state, but 358,000 people who live on an average of $1,135 a month,” LePage said. “They don’t get an increase.”
The governor has cited similar statistics before. The left-leaning Maine Center for Economic Policy says the minimum wage hike would put more money in the pockets of 181,000 Mainers, including the elderly.
This is the first town hall meeting since one was canceled in Westbrook in August after the governor left an obscene message on a Westbrook lawmaker’s voicemail.
The governor on Wednesday raised his voice a few times, but stayed longer than he apparently had planned to answer questions.
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