The art of redefinition

To the Editor;
If only it were a lost art and we had left it there long ago. Its device and scheme is a plague upon our nation’s soul. So it has followed us from distant shores, infectious and diseased, to raise its ugly bulbous head in a legislative eruption of taxation.

All that you know has been turned on its head if what you define is not inclined to match the needs of the leftist Democrat Party. Like the idea that life is only life if it can by chance escape the womb to be seen in hand by those who have redefined its existence, unless if, of course, you’ re a grublet ooze encased in Martian ice deep in space. Here in Maine, the party of Janet Mills, Chellie Pingree, and Jared Golden have redefined what “no new taxes” means.

It means a blunderbuss barrage of tax increases, new tax legislation, and a quadrupling of the bond burden, not to mention a myriad of new regulatory burdens to stymie business growth. The future is bright, if you think walking down a tunnel straight into a locomotive is bright. It’s all a matter of perspective.

Here are some low-lights to the Democrat’s bulldozer approach to Maine’s economy. A local sales tax to give small business a “no new taxes” punch in the gut. As usual, rural Maine gets hit the worst.

A tax on heating oil, gasoline, propane, diesel, and every other fuel, with jet fuel exempted. That is a relief. Mainers can breathe easier knowing our personal jets are tax exempted and our Democrat politicians can jet tax free to global warming summits.

Then we have an income tax increase. Why not? With all these “no new taxes,” Maine’s economy is bracing for a nuclear blast?

Andy Torbett
Atkinson