Car Tax Break  Posted March 25, 2009, at 7:31 p.m.  The state’s
automobile excise tax is one of the most reviled levies in
Maine. That’s why a citizen’s initiative that lawmakers will
consider this week is deceptively simple. Cut the tax in half,
it proposes, and Maine taxpayers will save lots of money.  For
those who believe that government should shrivel up and go away,
less revenue simply furthers their goal. For those who believe
that government, at all levels, does important work that no one
else will do, the answer isn’t so simple.  On Thursday, the
Legislature’s Taxation Committee will hold a public hearing on
LD 974, the first of two tax-and-spending related bills that, if
not passed by lawmakers, will appear on the November ballot. The
other measure, which has yet to be scheduled for a hearing,
would restrict government spending and require voter approval
for tax increases.  LD 974 would roughly cut the automobile
excise tax rate in half for the first six years that a car was
owned. It also would eli