Dear Editor:

The governor's tax proposal scares me.

Towns without large nonprofits will have to increase their property tax.

Not bad for the wealthy who bought shorefront property and can afford it. Not so good for the elderly and families who inherited property several generations ago.

How will fixed or low income folks deal with higher property taxes?

The reduction in income tax will help middle to high income folks, but not the fixed or low income people who pay little or no income tax already.

Taxing nonprofits will help towns with large nonprofits, but will cut into the tight budgets of nonprofit organizations. Also, though probably not a motive, the governor's plan of allowing towns to tax nonprofits will probably reduce his property taxes in nonprofit-rich Boothbay.

Another issue is sales tax, which is paid in a disproportionate amount by low income people. A higher percentage of their income is spent on taxable necessities, such as used cars, repair parts, warm clothing, etc. Therefore an increase in sales tax affects them more than it affects the wealthy who do not have to repair their new cars, already have warm clothes, and generally shop online out of state more, paying no sales tax.

I do hope this plan gets evaluated closely and rejected before it is enacted and does some real harm.

Tom Boudin

Edgecomb