The Bangor Daily News: “Republicans use false claims to pin high costs on the governor.”
AUGUSTA – Scott Ogden, spokesman for the Janet Mills for Governor campaign, issued the following statement on the Maine Republican Party’s latest TV lie:
“Another day, another false attack from Paul LePage’s allies at the Maine Republican Party. With this new ad, the Maine GOP has reached a new low, desperately trying to deceive Maine people about the Governor’s record.
“Here’s the truth: Governor Mills has never raised taxes, and she does not want to raise taxes. Instead, she has delivered tax relief, cut taxes for retirees, and put money back into the pockets of hardworking Maine people by delivering $850 in inflation relief – one of the best inflation relief packages in the country that Paul LePage opposed.
“Governor Mills will continue to fight inflation and deliver Maine people real relief. Paul LePage can only deliver chaos, dysfunction, and falsehoods. Maine people deserve better than him.”
MYTH: “Mills created a costly grocery tax”
FACT: Governor Mills has not raised any taxes. The Maine Republican Party is criticizing bipartisan legislation sponsored by Republican State Senator Rick Bennett of Oxford – a former Chair of the Maine Republican Party – that shifts the cost of recycling off the shoulders of local property taxpayers and onto corporations for hard-to-recycle packaging. The law requires corporations to reimburse municipalities for disposal costs and is not in effect yet.
MYTH: “Mills wants a higher gas tax”
FACT: Governor Mills does not support raising the gas tax, and she has not raised any taxes. The Bangor Daily News has fact checked the gas tax lie as “probably the biggest whopper of the bunch.”
In the past week, the Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald have characterized lies in Paul LePage and his Republican allies’ TV ads as “egregious”, “off-base”, and “discredited,” even writing at one point, “No matter how much LePage says this about Mills, it is false.”
Governor Mills has delivered substantial relief to Maine families, including $850 inflation relief checks (or $1700 for the average Maine family), cutting taxes for retirees, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, expanding property tax relief, and fully-funding education and state aid to municipalities – all of which relieve the burden on property taxpayers.
In fact, Paul LePage is the only candidate in this race with a record of higher taxes. He failed to prevent an increase in the sales tax, and then later proposed expanding the sales tax even more. His policies drove up property taxes, and he tried to eliminate the Homestead Exemption for people under 65. Just last week, LePage suggested that he would let counties raise taxes on Maine people.