Paying Their Fair Share: It's Time To Close Corporate Tax Loopholes

For years, our working families and small businesses have borne a higher proportional tax burden than the wealthiest corporations. And during the worst pandemic in a generation, these corporations have made record profits, while working Mainers have struggled to get by.

As our elected officials focus on rebuilding our state in the wake of COVID-19, it’s crucial that they ensure corporations start paying their fair share.

There are lots of big multinational corporations that do business in Maine; they drive on our roads, employ our workers, and use our resources, but for years, they haven’t paid their fair share in taxes.

Some of these corporations even use a loophole that rewards them for hiding their profits overseas.

During a pandemic, working families and small businesses need more protection, not less. This is a time to invest in our essential services, like healthcare, education, and public safety – doing so will keep working Mainers on their feet and supported as we recover from this crisis.

Rather than put these services on the chopping block, we need our elected officials to focus on tax fairness. Ensuring tax fairness means closing corporate tax loopholes.

Closing corporate tax loopholes would not only help make sure we don’t have to make major cuts as we chart the path towards our recovery, but it could also prevent considerable tax hikes that would hurt families who are already struggling. There are tangible steps that our lawmakers could take to close these loopholes, including peeling back Trump-era corporate tax breaks, like the FDII tax loophole.

We still have a long road ahead when it comes to recovering from this pandemic, and it won’t be easy. But we need to make sure that working families and small businesses come before the profits of big corporations. It’s time for big corporations to pay their fair share; it’s time to close corporate tax loopholes.

It's time to pass the COVID-19 Bill of Rights

Between the economic downturn and the struggle to keep their families and neighbors healthy, Mainers are looking to their representatives for help.

Ensuring that all Mainers can get the care they need should they fall ill is the State Legislature’s top priority. That’s why they created the COVID-19 Patient Bill of Rights.

SIGN HERE to tell your legislators to pass the COVID-19 Patient Bill of Rights.

The COVID-19 Bill of Rights would:

• Require insurance companies to expand access to and to fully cover COVID-19 testing;

• Waive all copayments for COVID-19 testing, screening and vaccines

• Allow Mainers increased options for telehealth appointments;

• Permit pharmacists to fill prescriptions for extended periods and to administer COVID-19 vaccines once available.

This bill would ensure that all Mainers, even those without insurance, would not have to risk going into debt in order to protect themselves against this deadly virus. Without access to affordable coverage or treatment, our families, communities and economy are at risk.

Maine cannot recover from this virus if our working families cannot afford to take care of themselves or their loved ones. Sign here to tell your legislators: we need a COVID-19 Patient Bill of Rights.

No More Impossible Choices: Mainers like Aranka and Colby Need Paid Family & Medical Leave

Even before COVID-19, too many working Mainers have found themselves on the brink, forced to make impossible decisions in order to care for the ones they love the most. But Maine’s current family medical leave policy is unpaid, which means many families are forced to choose between their family or their job.

Sign here if you agree: Maine needs Paid Family & Medical Leave.

Aranka and her son Colby are one of those families.

When Colby was born, he was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects development. “By the time he was four years old, I had gone through 300 or so meetings between medical providers, special service providers, and educational providers,” said Aranka.

In order to take care of her son, Aranka could not continue working.

“The ability to support myself independently was over,” said Aranka. “The supports and systems are not in place to enable me to continue working and have the needs of my son met.”

The current lack of a statewide Paid Family & Medical Leave policy means working Mainers are forced to take unpaid leave, come to work when they or their family are ill, or, in Aranka’s case, give up their jobs in order to care for their loved ones.

“If we don’t have the support we need to care for our children with disabilities, then we are relegated to social services when most of us want to work,” said Aranka.

Right now, our current policy that’s in place is not enough. Families like Aranka and Colby shouldn’t be struggling to stay afloat, forced to give up work because they need time off for care.

It’s time to ensure that Maine’s working families can take time off to care for themselves or their loved ones, without risking their paycheck.

Sign here to tell our legislators: it’s time to pass Paid Family & Medical Leave.