AUGUSTA — In a party-line vote Monday, Democratic lawmakers in the Maine House rejected a proposal by Gov. Paul LePage that would have asked voters whether they wanted to amend the state’s constitution to eliminate the income tax by 2020.

The 82-64 vote against the bill was not unexpected but sets up a scenario where it is unlikely the Legislature, where the House is controlled by Democrats and the Senate by Republicans, will send the measure out to voters any time soon.

Democrats said they were largely opposed to the bill because it would cost the state nearly $1.8 billion in revenue and because LePage’s referendum question doesn’t suggest how that loss would be made up.

“Why are Democrats so afraid to let the people of Maine have a voice?” LePage asked. In a statement released after the vote, he accused Democrats of being against tax relief.

“We need a budget that helps our people prosper and that will strengthen the economy,” LePage wrote. “Democrats are leading 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.”

Republicans argued that LePage’s intent was to export more of Maine’s tax burden to the estimated 32 million tourists who visit the state each year by increasing and expanding the state’s sales tax. They also argued that the nine states that have no income tax have far stronger economies than Maine.

“This bill before us just deals with eliminating the income tax,” said Rep. Adam Goode, D-Bangor, the House chairman of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee. 

Goode also said there have been at least six statewide ballot questions dealing with taxes over the past 13 years and all of those have failed. Goode said Republican arguments that lawmakers were preventing the public from weighing in on the matter were just not valid.

“If Maine people want to vote on taxes, they certainly don’t need our permission,” Goode said. “They can vote on an income tax cut, they can send out lots of different tax questions. We are not the people who hold the keys to any kind of tax referendum for the state.”

But Rep. Jeff Pierce, R-Dresden, said Maine’s income tax was first put in place 44 years ago as a temporary tax, meant to help the state through a budget shortfall at the time. 

“I just ask that we revisit this and if the people say, ‘no’ well then they say, ‘no,'” Pierce said. “But I’m sure in my district people would vote for this.”

Assistant House Minority Leader Ellie Espling, R-New Gloucester, said Maine people should have the chance to weigh in.

“I’d like to see this debate go to the public square,” Espling said during floor debate Monday. “I think we’re talking about the best way to tax Maine people and they should have a voice in that. I see this resolve as a chance for Maine people to have their say.”

Other Republicans also made the argument that when the state reduced the income tax in 2011, the result was more income to the state treasury. 

“Why is that?” Rep. Larry Lockman, R-Ahmerst asked. “Because when you let people keep more of the money they earn, they don’t stuff it in a mattress. They don’t put it in a coffee can and bury it out in the backyard. They spend it or invest it. It generates more taxable transactions in the economy.”

sthistle@sunjournal.com

Information from the Bangor Daily News was used in this report.