LePage hammers Senate GOP budget offer as shutdown approaches
Source: Bangor Daily News
Gov. Paul LePage has again vowed to shut down state government if the Legislature votes for an increase in the lodging tax, which the governor himself proposed in February and which was resurrected Wednesday by Senate Republicans.
That proposal drew fire from LePage on Thursday, who accused Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, of just wanting to “go home” at any expense to the state budget.
With about 40 hours left before the end of Maine’s fiscal year, LePage’s statement casts an even darker cloud, if that’s possible, over a situation where there is a path to the enactment of a state budget in time to avoid a shutdown, but it’s narrow and fraught with obstacles.
On Wednesday, Senate Republicans came to the table with some new concessions, including more education funding than their previous proposal, funding for direct-care workers and a partial restoration of property tax relief programs. To help fund some of those items, they proposed raising the state’s lodging tax from 9 percent to 10 percent — but remain firm on repealing the education surtax enacted by voters in 2016.
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Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2017/06/29/politics/lepage-hammers-senate-gop-budget-offer-as-shutdown-approaches/
