Are you fed up paying such high property taxes? Do you know one of the 135,000 Mainers who is without health insurance?

Pat LaMarche has a common sense solution to both of these problems. Her Universal Healthcare Plan lowers property taxes by reducing the amount each town and county pays to insure its employees. Everyone gets healthcare, and Maine businesses and property owners get tax relief.

To play the spot, click in the toolbar above. See the script, Pat's speech, the press release, John Buells' article praising the LaMarche Healthcare Plan, and event photos.

We Mainers pay a fortune for health insurance, and still 135,000 aren't covered.
In addition to income taxes and sales taxes, our own premiums, and the premiums our employers pay ...
... millions of dollars of property taxes go to insure town and county employees.
My Universal Healthcare Plan can lower your property taxes by reducing the healthcare costs your town pays.
And everyone will have healthcare.
Better still, my Universal Healthcare Plan will save Maine businesses money.
I'm Pat LaMarche, and together we can have a healthier Maine — and a healthier economy.

Gubernatorial candidate Pat LaMarche will ride this ambulance around the state this fall to emphasize her call for medical, dental and pharmacy schools in Maine as the cornerstone of better healthcare and economic recovery for all Mainers.  Read the press release, Pat's speech, and the write-up in the Bangor Daily News.   "It is my goal that by the time the students entering their freshman year in college this September attend their graduation ceremonies, they will have the option of attending an allopathic medical school, or a dental school, or a pharmacy school right here in Maine," LaMarche stated.

Pat LaMarche stands solidly for tax reform. Pat's universal healthcare plan will reduce property taxes and encourage the growth of new business in Maine, which will create a healthier economic climate.

Pat will provide a new kind of leadership in Augusta — using the same sort of common sense that Maine families use when making tough choices in the budgets for their homes and small businesses.

Our current tax system isn't working and needs to be overhauled. Many components of our tax structure need to be eliminated and, just as important, we need to stop the shortsighted practice of privatizing our state's profitable programs, such as liquor sales, so we can maintain and create the revenue necessary to fund critical state services.

Property Taxes are Unfair

Property taxes are unfair and illogical because they are based on assumed profits — profits that have yet to be earned. It's awfully hard to pay taxes with a profit you haven't received yet, so the property tax burden becomes more than many elderly and working Mainers can bear. Good ideas for tax reform aren't hard to find: we can easily look at how other states generate revenue, see what works for them and then put the good ideas we find to work for Maine.

One policy

Pat thinks Mainers should consider is shifting the taxation burden from property taxes to real estate transfer taxes. With property taxes, Mainers pay tax on a profit they have yet to make. A real estate transfer tax, on the other hand, let's you hold onto your money until you sell your house. Properly designed, a real estate transfer tax could also discourage speculation, which drives up both housing prices and property taxes.

Pat's Stand on TABOR

Pat believes strongly that Maine needs tax reform. Pat knows that our state government has failed to reduce the crushing tax burden borne by the average Mainer. State government has also failed to take the creative steps necessary to generate sufficient revenue for funding essential services.

Pat believes there are better ways to cut taxes and increase revenue than TABOR. Pat is a staunch supporter of local government and opposes TABOR, in part, because it tells local municipalities how to run their affairs and this flies in the face of the small town independence that Mainers cherish. Pat is also concerned that TABOR, by itself, won't change the way Augusta does business and that TABOR's restrictions could result in cutting services to the most vulnerable of our citizens.

TABOR and the recent tax cap measure are cries of pain. Candidates and officeholders need to hear this loud and clear from the voters.

The LaMarche Plan for a Tax System that Makes Sense

Pat hears that Mainers want tax relief and a tax system that makes sense. Her plan is to: