In November, Maine people will consider a ballot question to establish the universal home-care program, a proposal that, as reported in the Press Herald, has been bankrolled from the beginning by liberal mega-donor George Soros.

A lot of misinformation has been spread about this initiative, and I hope this letter will clear up misunderstandings about who will be affected by the taxes imposed under this initiative.

Contrary to what proponents of universal home care claim, this is not a tax on Maine’s “rich” or the top 1 percent.

According to Maine’s Department of Administrative and Financial Affairs, all Maine households filing taxes – individual or jointly – will be subject to the taxes, meaning it could affect married earners whose individual income is less than $128,400 but whose joint income exceeds it. There are at least 56,000 taxpayers in Maine who would be affected.

Maine Revenue Services, in a technical analysis of the universal home care initiative, has concluded that “for all three tax provisions … Maine adjusted gross income includes the income from both spouses filed on a joint return basis.”

Please don’t be fooled by the out-of-state money and slick advertising campaigns. Like many initiatives that have appeared on the ballot in recent years, the universal home-care initiative is bought and paid for by outside interests. In this instance, the Maine People’s Alliance, the primary supporters of this initiative, are merely serving as lackeys to Mr. Soros’ demands.

Real Maine people did not ask for this legislation. Unlike Medicaid expansion and ranked-choice voting, the Legislature has not wrestled with universal home care in years past. This initiative is simply the most recent example of our ballot initiative process being exploited by well-funded outside interests that seek to change the way life should be.

Jacob Posik

policy analyst, Maine Heritage Policy Center

Portland