Maine lawmakers are heading into a new term facing a big challenge — how to sustain bold investments in Maine people and communities in a year when the money coming in isn’t keeping pace with rising costs. The threat of major cuts to federal funding makes the future even murkier.

It’s no surprise, then, that calls for belt tightening have grown louder. But pay attention to who is being asked to tighten their belts. Is it millionaires and multinational corporations? No. In Gov. Mills’ budget proposal, much of the penny pinching comes at the expense of Mainers already chronically undervalued and underpaid. Her plan to roll back wage supplements for early childhood educators and cost-of-living increases for people who serve older and disabled Mainers places an even greater burden on the essential, low-wage workers who make it possible for working people to stay in the labor force.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

We don’t have to choose between bold policies and balanced budgets. We know how to do both. Today, Maine’s economy is beating the national average. We are also the state that dared to dream big with free school meals and community college, paid family medical leave, a robust minimum wage and a plan for a clean energy future. It’s not a coincidence. It’s good economic policy. And we can keep it going by extending Maine’s bold thinking to our tax code.

It’s time to get serious about raising revenue the right way. By shifting the belt-tightening to those who benefit most from our economy, legislators can raise more than enough to pay for the vital programs facing cuts and make our tax code fairer — all without asking more from working class Mainers.

Many Mainers don’t realize that millionaires pay the same income tax rate as teachers and firefighters. And that multimillion-dollar mansions are taxed at the same rate as a two-bedroom cottage. Mainers might not know that some of the multinational corporations dodging taxes with complicated loopholes and accounting tricks are the same ones receiving special tax giveaways. It’s time for legislators to rewrite the rules.

Instead of protecting the ballooning wealth of millionaires and multinational corporations, let’s side with working families and small businesses. Let’s craft a millionaires tax, like Massachusetts voters did. The $200 million it could generate over the next two years would easily cover the cost of investing in direct care professionals and early childhood educators while reducing child care costs for 1,000 more working families. We can also raise tens of millions more by raising the real estate transfer tax on their mansions.

Let’s also stop giving taxpayer money away in wasteful corporate subsidies. Ending these ineffective programs could raise over $100 million. Even a 10% reduction in the most recent round of business subsidies would fully pay for the food assistance cuts Mills is proposing. Rightsizing the corporate income tax would raise tens of millions more and ensure those businesses reaping the benefits of our taxpayer-funded infrastructure and educated workforce are finally doing their part to pay for it.

We can fund the programs that make Maine a great place to live, balance the budget, meet our commitments and tackle new challenges by asking more of those who have more. A bold and forward-thinking approach — one that includes holding big corporations accountable and making our tax code fairer — will get us there.