Maine media under attack!

[A. Joseph Ross]

On 8 Jan 2004 at 20:15, Dan Billings wrote:

> How much chance is that their proposal will be adopted?  No chance.  I'm
> not sure who came up with this idea but targeting the media for a tax hike
> is bad strategy.  They will never let it happen.  The Blethen newspapers
> loves to talk about eliminating sales tax exemptions but they never go to
> Augusta to suggest imposing a sales tax on newspapers or advertising.

Sometimes when a proposal of this sort is made, the revenue proposal isn't all that serious.  
The main thing these people want is to avoid the Medicaid cuts, and they don't really care all 
that much what else is done to find the funds.  

The political strategy is to propose the tax increase in order to show fiscally responsibility, 
then drum up all the political support they can for their main agenda item.  The hope is that 
they can get enough support to pass their main agenda item, forcing politicians to find some 
way to pay for it, whether it's the way they proposed or not.

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
 15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@attorneyross.com
Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         http://www.attorneyross.com