analysis by Gina Hamilton
Coastal Journal staff

If you’ve been watching television lately, or hitting some of your favorite internet sites, you might have seen a commercial paid for by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) which is a 501 c(4) advocacy organization - that is, a nonprofit lobbying organization; the Real Estate Roundtable, an organization of real estate owners, developers, and lenders; and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.  The commercial tells business owners that a new tax being debated in Congress might affect them.  It is very light on content, but encourages people to go to the website, www.dontbackthetax.com.

The focus of the commercial and the website (which is also unfortunately light on content), is on a potential change to the tax code currently pending in the Senate that changes how investment fees to brokerages are taxed, but which might inadvertantly affect how much in tax a partnership pays when one member sells its share in the partnership to another person, including the existing partner.

analysis by Gina Hamilton
Coastal Journal staff

BATH — First, keeping in mind that the legislature plays a pivotal role in crafting the state budget, nevertheless, the largest problems that the new governor will face in January is in fact the budget and Maine’s economic malaise.  And listening to the candidates at last Wednesday’s debate at Bath City Hall, some clues to the ways that the new governor would lead the state on those issues became readily apparent.

analysis by Gina Hamilton
Coastal Journal staff 

The Bush era tax cuts, pushed through during the recession of 2001, are set to expire this year, and the predictable is happening in Congress.  Republicans are pushing to make them permanent for everyone, regardless of income; Democrats are pushing to make them permanent for the middle and lower classes, or in some cases, letting them sunset altogether.

Why was there a sunset clause? It was the only way the tax cuts - which were irresponsible at the time and continue to be irresponsible today in a recessionary era coupled with high national debt - could be passed by a Democratic Senate.  At some point, Republicans wanted to go back and make them permanent, and Democrats wanted to let them die at the appointed hour or cancel them early.

However,  nothing was done, and now here we are, a few months before the cuts expire, and a deadlocked Congress is staring down the barrel of this deadline.