Phil Bartlett, the Gorham Democrat, believes Maine is at a crucial turning point in its growth, and the decisions made now will affect generations to come. Bartlett is running for his second term in the District 6 seat in the Maine Senate.
He faces opposition from Republican Jane Willette.
After a first term, he said he felt he had an impact in Augusta, even though he was a first-time senator. He was worried beforehand if he could effect change, but he said the other senators were respectful to him and he had many opportunities to weigh in on topics and get work done behind the scenes.
Originally from Gorham, Bartlett left the state to attend Tufts University and Harvard Law. Upon his return, he said, he had a newfound respect for the strong sense of community in Maine. Bartlett, married to his wife Susan for eight years, is a lawyer with a firm in Sanford. In a second term in the Senate, Bartlett said, he would like to have even more influence and work in a bipartisan way to get things done.
Bartlett would like to see significant tax-code reform, including a change to base taxes on income and not property, which he said is not always a good indication of someone’s income.
“It’s really no longer the case,” he said. “People are being taxed out of their homes.”
He would like to see the income tax rate lower and adjust the tax brackets so that the top bracket doesn’t kick in so quickly. With current tax brackets, the middle class is being taxed unfairly.
“We need to find a way to give the middle class a fair shake,” he said.
One way to do that would be to lower income and property taxes and make up the difference with an expanded or increased sales tax.
Bartlett said he is “not a fan” of a Taxpayer Bill of Rights in Maine, however, because he said it requires too much of a majority in a closely divided House and Senate. He pointed to recent education reforms that allowed Maine communities to lower their property tax rates because they received more school funding from the state. He said those reforms wouldn’t have passed if the Senate and House needed a two-thirds majority, as required by TABOR.
By lowering the tax burden, Maine could attract more business, as well. Lower taxes coupled with increased investment into research and development of new technologies would bring more companies to Maine, said Bartlett.
Also, ensuring Maine has an educated workforce through investment into higher education would help. Maine currently has one of the least-educated workforces in the country, and ranks the lowest in research and development investment, said Bartlett. These are two main factors keeping companies out, he said.
Another factor hampering Maine’s development is its health-care system, which Bartlett said has been helped somewhat by Dirigo Choice, but still needs work. According to Bartlett, Dirigo Choice needs to be more adaptable so Maine’s small businesses can access it.
He’d like to see Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield removed as the administrator, and more competition in the health-care marketplace in general. Attracting more health-care providers is key because Maine is a difficult state – it’s sparsely populated, has a low education rate and a high substance-abuse rate, said Bartlett.
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