bitterlyclingin
Silver Member
- Aug 4, 2011
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(The days when an immigrant arrived on these shores in response to Liberty's siren call of "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" have apparently ended and have now been replaced with simply a huddled mass yearning for a benevolent master, at least in the State of Maine)
"PORTLAND, MaineThere are more Mainers receiving welfare benefits than there are income tax filers paying taxes, Republican Gov. Paul LePage said Saturday.
But Democrats said LePage's numbers are deceptive and not entirely truthful.
In reiterating his call for the need to cut human services programs to save money, the governor said in his weekly radio address that Maine had 453,000 people receiving welfare benefits in 2010. At the same, he said, the state had only 445,000 tax filers who paid taxes.
LePage said he doesn't relish the thought of people being hurt by spending cuts, but said it isn't fair to cover the $221 million Medicaid funding shortage by raising taxes or asking other state agencies to make up the difference. Rather, the state needs to rein in Medicaid costs and restructure the program, he said.
"There is no joy in taking anything away from anyone," the governor said in his address. "But there is one question I need to ask: Why should people struggle in this economy to pay their state taxes while the state of Maine operates far outside the national average in welfare costs? It's a fair question.""
LePage says Maine's welfare numbers are bloated - Boston.com
"PORTLAND, MaineThere are more Mainers receiving welfare benefits than there are income tax filers paying taxes, Republican Gov. Paul LePage said Saturday.
But Democrats said LePage's numbers are deceptive and not entirely truthful.
In reiterating his call for the need to cut human services programs to save money, the governor said in his weekly radio address that Maine had 453,000 people receiving welfare benefits in 2010. At the same, he said, the state had only 445,000 tax filers who paid taxes.
LePage said he doesn't relish the thought of people being hurt by spending cuts, but said it isn't fair to cover the $221 million Medicaid funding shortage by raising taxes or asking other state agencies to make up the difference. Rather, the state needs to rein in Medicaid costs and restructure the program, he said.
"There is no joy in taking anything away from anyone," the governor said in his address. "But there is one question I need to ask: Why should people struggle in this economy to pay their state taxes while the state of Maine operates far outside the national average in welfare costs? It's a fair question.""
LePage says Maine's welfare numbers are bloated - Boston.com
