First they came for the millionaires, but I was not a millionaire, so I did not speak out
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Lawmakers were still voting on the package after 10 p.m. It will be the last major spending proposal of the governor’s tenure and comes as the 78-year-old navigates a difficult Democratic primary against Graham Platner for the right to take on five-term U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican who is a top target for Democrats looking to win back the Senate.
This has pushed her to the left in the State House. Mills has long resisted progressive calls to raise taxes on high earners.
…. The millionaire tax looks to be the biggest addition to the budget proposal. Democrats said the 2% tax on income over $1 million would apply to just over 2,600 income tax filers, generating $150 million over two years. This matched a proposal from Rep. Cheryl Golek, D-Harpswell, that is a priority for progressive groups including the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
Mills’ tax office opposed that bill in a hearing last year. She also warded Democrats off from raising income taxes early in her tenure. But she exited her 2022 reelection over former Gov. Paul LePage by approving a paid family and medical leave plan funded by a payroll tax (imposed on millionaires and non-millionaires alike).
Appropriators made other changes on Monday, moving Maine away from several of the tax changes in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The state will follow Mills’ plan to not conform to popular items including no taxes on tips and overtime as well as phasing out the retail side of the often-scrutinized Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement tax break.
Democrats can pass this budget without any Republican votes.
A year ago, May 25, 2025, the Democrats tried the same thing, and the socialist organization Maine Center for Economic Policy, that drafted the bill, had this to say:
"Today, the Maine Legislature took a big step toward making that vision a reality. Lawmakers on the Taxation Committee voted to advance LD 1089, a bold and long-overdue proposal from Rep. Golek that would add a 2% tax on income over $1 million for individuals or $2 million for couples. This isn’t just symbolic — it’s serious. We’re talking about over $100 million in revenue over the next biennium to help fund our schools.
“This is a major positive step for tax fairness and for the people of Maine, who overwhelmingly support making the ultra-wealthy pay what they owe. The programs families rely on are under threat because our tax code asks too little of those at the top — and LD 1089 starts to fix that.” [Bolding added]
The governor vetoed the bill last year, but the Democrats have now gained enough votes to override their own party’s governor, so they came right back this year.
This is how it always works. When, back in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, Connecticut enacted a gun control law that was hailed as “the strictest law in the nation”. Hailed, that is, except for the Connecticut gun-banners, whose head declared it “a good start”; she and her anti-group demonstrated that by pushing for ever-stricter laws with each succeeding legislative session and succeeded with most of them.
More germaine to this discussion, perhaps, is the federal income tax, first enacted by Wilsonian Democrats in 1913. The tax would, they promised, only affect the top 0.5% of earners, beginning at $3,000 ($98,218 in current dollars) and increasing in graduated increments up to 6% for incomes above $500,000 ($16.5 million).
Maine won’t be able to collect anywhere near the $150 million it expects to extract from it’s millionaires, just as California, Washington state, and New York won’t realize the sums anticipated from their “wealth taxes”, because the geese they hope to pluck will move their assets and themselves out of those jurisdictions. I foresee two, inevitable . Lowering the threshold of $1 million, because the legislatures will have already spent the money they won’t receive; and passing a national wealth tax in order to prevent millionaires from escaping what the socialists consider their duty to “pay what they owe.”