Gov. Paul LePage says he is thrilled with the election of Donald Trump as the next president, but he is not happy with some of the other results in Maine on Tuesday.
LePage says the approval of an increase in the state’s minimum wage will hurt seniors. His reasoning is that the hike will increase the cost of goods and services beyond the means of older Mainers on fixed incomes.
“The minimum wage bill is really going to put about 325,000 seniors in severe poverty,” he says. “I am going to do everything in my power to try and mitigate that and help them.
LePage says he’s also very worried about the passage of the 3 percent surtax on household incomes of $200,000 a year or more, including joint returns. He says as of Jan. 1, they will be be taxed at a rate of 10.15 percent, and he says it has already had a negative effect on the state’s economy and will cost the state revenue.
“We have already lost some people. I know two dentists that are already opening up offices in New Hampshire. They are only 20 miles from the border and they are going to New Hampshire. That’s going to have a toll. We are going lose income there. How much? I don’t know,” he says.
That concern was brought up by the nonpartisan economic forecasting commission that plans to meet later this month to assess the effect of the referendums on Maine’s economy.
LePage says the two measures could cause a recession in Maine, and vows to introduce some type of legislation in January to stop that from happening. As for a job in the Trump administration, which Trump publicly offered during one of his visits this summer, LePage jokes that the only position he would interested in is ambassador to Canada in the summer and Jamaica in the winter.
