Today, Americans for Tax Reform congratulates Governor-elect Paul LePage on Tuesday’s historic electoral victories in Maine. LePage has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written promise to oppose all tax increases. He has made a written commitment to constituents to solve Maine’s budget problems while taking the threat of tax increases entirely off the table.

LePage joins 36 Pledge signers in the state legislature. With Maine’s budget $1 billion in the red, a number of tax increases have been floated in recent months. Those proposals are now effectively off the table.

ATR President Grover Norquist issued the following statement:

“Until you take tax increases definitively off the table, spending restraint and reform is impossible. That has sadly been the case for years in Maine, as taxes have been on the perpetual rise to fund Augusta’s overspending problem. With the election of Paul LePage, those days are officially over.

“This is a historic occasion for Maine. Paul has promised to engage in an adult conversation with Mainers about what government can afford, with the understanding that taxpayers can no longer afford state government. Maine’s tax climate has put it at a competitive disadvantage with other states when it comes to jobs, population, and economic growth.

“Now the hard work begins. I urge Gov. LePage to act on serious reforms such as reining in Maine’s out-of-control government employee compensation, eliminating forced unionization mandates, and enacting commonsense tax relief. I am confident that when we look back on Maine’s economic resurgence, we will point to the conservative leadership of Paul LePage as its impetus.”

Posted by Joshua Culling on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 5:51 PM EDT

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