Eye on Augusta: Legislature Passes Tax Breaks for 28,000 Businesses and 160,000 Unemployed Workers
by Andy OâBrien (Photo: Dan Kirchoff)
Andy O’Brien is communications director at Maine AFL-CIO. He is a former managing editor of The Free Press and a former state legislator. His Eye on Augusta column appears every other week in The Free Press. Last Thursday, the Maine Legislature passed a supplemental budget package that will provide a full state tax exemption to federal Paycheck Protection (PPP) grants for 28,000 profitable businesses as well as tax breaks on the first $10,200 of federal unemployment benefits for 160,000 unemployed workers.
Republicans initially blocked the two-thirds votes necessary to pass the spending package in order to demand another $32 million in additional business tax cuts, including foreign-derived intangible income, to mirror the federal tax code. However, during floor debate, Republican leaders could not ex