Paul Chace

Republican

Candidate’s Links:

Office Sought: Representative – District 46
Age: 49
Occupation: Pharmacist/ Pharmacy Consultant
Education: BS Pharmacy, URI
Family: Karen, spouse
Hometown: Durham

Political experience

Served 1 term in the current 127th Legislature as a member of the Committee on Taxation. Past experiences in Maine Board of Pharmacy and other professional organizations.

Why are you running for office?

Reducing the burden to live in Maine, increasing opportunities for good industry, professional and technical job enterprises to increase in Maine. Our quality of life is great, our homegrown ingenuity and ability to help others and thrive and survive is great, and we need businesses looking for such talent to be able to afford to set up here in Maine. If they do a cost / benefit analysis and look at our utilities and tax burdens that are equal to states with much higher incomes, we just aren’t attractive enough. A business will always look at the bottom line when looking for opportunity. Good quality of life, evironment, schools and work ethic are already here, and that does have an effect, but if our utilities, business taxes (43rd highest in US), property taxes, income taxes are all on the high ends, it is too expensive to do business here. These margins are improving and we need to continue on this path without continuing to drive our retirees out of state as well as our children.

• Income Tax: Gov. LePage would like to lower Maine’s income tax rate and eventually eliminate it, by increasing the state’s sales tax and expanding it across a broader range of goods and services. Do you support this proposal?
  • Yes

    39 million visitors come to Maine annually to enjoy our beautiful coastlines, Mountains, skiing, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling and many other outdoor attractions. I think we have the best restaurants, lodging and atmosphere and parks like no other state. These folks that we graciously need, pay higher sales taxes in their home states in many cases. The proposal will have a sales tax credit offset so that you and I can recoup our sales tax dollars, and our visitors too if they choose to file Maine income tax forms. But the bottom line is that tourism is one of our best income sources currently, and it is possible for us to use it to support our budget and make our overall tax burden much less just as we lowered income tax this past session.

• Background Checks: Do you support background checks for privately sold firearms in Maine?
  • No

    It’s not just privately sold firearms. If you go into the woods of Maine for your moose hunting trip or other excursion, and your rifle or shotgun is jammed or inoperable (as we all knows happens), you cannot even BORROW your friends weapon to walk through the woods unless your friend is your immediate presence / vicinity. The money that is paying for campaigns such as this come from areas where they have the biggest issues, and I have not seen any evidence yet that the municipalities such as Chicago or Baltimore are having problems because of private gun sales in Maine. I think bills like this are far too restrictive and don’t address the real issues in these unfortunate situations, nor do I think we have yet to address the real issue of the perpetrators of these crimes.

• Minimum Wage: In light of the ballot question facing voters this fall, do you support raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $12 an hour by 2020?
  • No

    As a previous business owner, I have seen first hand that what comes into your register till directly corresponds with your ability to hire help. Additionally, if I want to compete with a national company for an employee, I have to be competitive for what the market pays entry level workers. These types of jobs were never meant to be living wage jobs. You can’t make a store earn enough to pay workers a living wage, or even a $12 dollar an hour wage. These jobs are meant to be part time, and frankly those businesses simply cannot just arbitrarily raise those wages as that does not equate to the income of the business either. To raise minimum wage means that businesses will have to increase prices, and look at ways to decrease labor cost through other methods. Additionally, we need a pipeline into the working world for our young untrained children, and unfortunately $12.00 an hour is just not going to work. The free market will set this threshold…otherwise you have inflation.

• Marijuana: Do you support legalization of marijuana for recreational use?
  • No

    Are we truly better off the day after such a measure is enacted? Aside from tax revenue, drug dealers and the black market in states that have legalized thrive just as well as they did prior to legalization as they are not collecting taxes. Children will have easier access because the more folks that bring this home, the more likely there will be contact and increased use. It is not any safer to drive a vehicle or operate machinery than alcohol. Drug dealers with lower prices for marijuana will still get a chance to talk to and market to your teen about ecstasy, or mushrooms or worse…

• Addiction/Overdoses: Do you believe the state is doing enough in response to the rise in heroin/opiate addiction and overdoses? If not, what else should be done?
  • No.

    I believe that the focus is in the right place, and a significant amount of activity has begun. It is going to take a multi-pronged approach of treatment, enforcement and provider education. I do think that all sides of the equation are being improved, and Maine did just receive recognition from the National Safety Council as one of only a four states that attained the “Making Progress” mark. We can’t lose focus, however, nor pick one strategy in any one portion of the equation. This is one of our most serious issues in the state and effects all aspects of Maine life.