Cabela’s tax break is an easy call, and I think Nancy Reagan put it best “just say NO!!!” As a new Maine and Cape Elizabeth resident, former resident of three other states, small business owner and someone with no affiliation with any of the related interests, I feel I have unique perspective on how tax breaks kill competition and hurt the economy. As stated by yourself and Sen. Bromley LL Bean receives a tax break for having over 100,000 square feet of space and doing 30 percent of business outside of Maine, Cabela’s would qualify under that definition, and therefore level its playing field with LL Bean.

How do the small outdoor retailers compete, they don’t have the buying power, they don’t have the brand name, they don’t have tax breaks. The answer: they can’t, yet it is small business owners that create jobs and innovate new products. Therefore, tax breaks actually reduce innovation and job growth.

As a recent resident of the Syracuse, N.Y., area, I watched what

giving a huge tax break to the Carousel Mall did. It shut or nearly shut three malls and countless strip malls in the area, thereby decimating the local tax income while the big mall just keeps on rolling. Wal-Mart is well known for having done the same thing all over the country replacing good paying grocery store jobs with its $6-an-hour pay, thereby reducing local, state and federal tax revenues as well as reducing individual buying power, which makes

up two-thirds of the economy. When will we learn that a free market economy is just that – free and level for all not just those corporations big enough to pay for it?

Warren Sheridan

Cape Elizabeth