A Narrow Victory for the New Hampshire Economic Recovery Coalition

That was a close one. Forces in Maine tried to remove our neighbors from the New Hampshire Economic Recovery Coalition by lowering Maine's income tax.

A law that would have lowered the state's income tax but imposed sales taxes on a variety of services is on hold now that opponents have collected enough signatures to place a repeal of the law on the June 2010 ballot.

Maine's secretary of state announced Nov. 9 that sufficient signatures had been collected.

The bill to revamp the state's tax system was approved by the Maine Legislature in June and signed by the governor.

Following last week's rejection of the Spending Cap, Maine is clearly doing its part to help the Granite State. But hold off on the celebratory parades in Portsmouth and North Conway. Maine voters have a chance to reinstate the lower income tax rate next year.