Maine Policy Institute

Maine Policy Institute MPI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to expand individual liberty in Maine. Dedicated to a rebirth of prosperity and growth in Maine.

08/19/2026

Mainers were found to pay the third largest share of their income in rent each month — a whopping 52.72 percent of income — surpassed only by New York and Hawaii, according to a recent report by WalletHub published in The Maine Wire.

Homeowners in Maine fared comparatively better, although the state still ranked in the bottom half, coming in 15th-worst, with an average monthly housing cost of 26.60 percent of income.

Let that sink in.

Visit the link in the comments to read our 2024 study about what's driving these costs and what we can do to fix them.
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IT'S OFFICIAL: Maine Policy Institute today released its 2026 edition of the "Maine Policy Blueprint," a publication des...
08/19/2026

IT'S OFFICIAL: Maine Policy Institute today released its 2026 edition of the "Maine Policy Blueprint," a publication designed to serve as a roadmap for Maine’s next governor and the 133rd Legislature.

The Blueprint is the final result of meticulous and painstaking research spanning months.

Published every four years, the publication outlines a comprehensive review of state government — legislative and executive alike — with the explicit goal of restoring focus, accountability, and economic growth. No institution is exempt from examination: legislative rules, constitutional officers, executive orders, agency rulemaking, permitting systems, and the procedures by which regulations are drafted and enforced.

Among the suggested reforms outlined in the Blueprint are:

➡ Roughly $1 billion in biennial savings in Maine’s state budget, spanning nearly every department and agency of state government.
➡ Recommended reforms and policy changes to each cabinet-level department.
➡ Reform to the process of selecting Maine’s Constitutional Officers.
➡ Changes to Legislative rules in the Maine House and Maine Senate.
➡ An index of written legislation to be introduced by lawmakers.

View and download the 2026 Maine Policy Blueprint at the link in the comments.
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According to personal finance website WalletHub, Maine has the 5th highest tax burden in the country.We can all agree th...
08/17/2026

According to personal finance website WalletHub, Maine has the 5th highest tax burden in the country.

We can all agree that there are reasons why Maine is such a wonderful place to live: boundless natural beauty, the "big small town" nature of it, minimal crime (lowest violent crime in the country, in fact).

However, with this punishing tax burden, Maine also suffers from:

‣ Astronomical energy and housing costs
‣ Deplorable education outcomes ( #41 in the nation)
‣ Ubiquitous and unchecked fraud that exploits Maine taxpayers
‣ Unfettered organized crime
‣ “Harm reduction” policies that have resulted in the distribution of 17.2 million free needles — 2.3 million of which remain uncollected — and the largest HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C outbreak in generations
‣ The worst infrastructure in the country, according to CNBC
‣ Nearly $47 million misspent on improper Medicaid payments

Meanwhile, the state's budget has exploded since 2019, increasing by 45%. Taxes have increased, and some new taxes have been created, and at a time when life has already become cripplingly expensive for many Mainers.

It’s a reasonable question to ask: we're crushed by taxes, but where, exactly, is our money going? And with this tax burden and spending, what are we getting in return?

According to an article published this week in the Portland Press Herald, downtown Portland is gaining an "unsavory repu...
08/14/2026

According to an article published this week in the Portland Press Herald, downtown Portland is gaining an "unsavory reputation," with owners of local businesses exhorting that safety concerns be addressed.

Among the issues, according to the business owners, are:
• People nodding off in public and private spaces
• Aggressive panhandling
• Needles and human waste on sidewalks

One business owner even had to redirect his customer traffic to the back entrance of his store due to addicts shooting up in front of it and passing out inside.

Unfortunately, these issues plaguing Portland aren't new. But they seem to have exacerbated in recent years.

So, how did Portland get here? At least in part, it comes down to damaging progressive policies seen in this graphic. In the interest of brevity, these are just a handful of major contributing factors that have led to the dismal state of affairs in Portland, but surely not the totality of them.

Visit the link in the comments for the Press Herald article, as well as Steve Robinson's story in The Maine Wire about the harmful effects of needle exchange programs in Maine.

Maine has created a permanent entitlement program with few restrictions on who receives it, and almost no obligation for...
08/12/2026

Maine has created a permanent entitlement program with few restrictions on who receives it, and almost no obligation for recipients to provide anything in return.

Here are a few things the program will do:

🚨 Pay tuition for students of wealthy families
🚨 Subsidize students who leave Maine
🚨 Cover education unrelated to workforce shortages
🚨 Place the financial risk of non-completion on taxpayers

Perhaps worse is what the program doesn't require:

❌ Require recipients to study an occupation facing a shortage
❌ Require them to complete their program
❌ Require them to work in Maine after graduation
❌ Require them to remain in Maine for any period after they stop attending college
❌ Require repayment from students who receive free tuition and then leave the state
❌ Require repayment from students who withdraw, repeatedly change programs, or leave without earning a credential

The program is far too broad and relaxed, going well beyond supporting students who cannot afford tuition. And Maine taxpayers foot the bill.

Read our full analysis of this flawed new entitlement at the link in the comments.

The Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson: "From 2019 to 2025, Maine spent more than $22 million in state and federa...
08/10/2026

The Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson: "From 2019 to 2025, Maine spent more than $22 million in state and federal tax dollars on syringe services programs — that is, 'clinics' where intravenous drug users can get needles for free, 100 at a time.

What did we get for all that cash? The distribution of 17.2 million free needles — 2.3 million of which remain uncollected — and the largest HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C outbreak in generations.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reports that 91 percent of the currently infected patients injected drugs within the last year. Of the 45 patients, 40 have a hepatitis co-infection — also the result of fentanyl injections."

In other words: Maine’s worst-ever HIV and hepatitis outbreak unfolded precisely as lawmakers poured millions of dollars into testing the proposition that handing out free needles would limit the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis.

This is an absolutely monumental failure in policy, and with devastating consequences that has cost Maine taxpayers.

Read the full report by Steve Robinson at the link in the comments.

08/10/2026

"Paradise Residential Care from 2022-2025 billed nearly $25 million for housing for 15 people. How much of a maternity ward could that sustain?..."

The Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson joined Maine Policy CEO Matt Gagnon on his daily WGAN Morning News show today to discuss Dr. Oz's visit to Maine last week, the Mills administration's response to the visit widespread Medicaid fraud in Maine, and more.

Listen to the full segment at the link in the comments.
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08/07/2026

"Time after time there have been these chances to address fraud, for you to conduct your own audits, and you've chosen not to do so."

Two days after Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz visited Maine to meet with reporter Jon Fetherston of The Maine Wire — a project of Maine Policy Institute — to discuss alleged fraud in the state’s Medicaid-funded home care system, the Mills administration announced it had suspended payments to five MaineCare providers, terminated additional providers, and taken enforcement action against dozens of agencies.

But the Mills administration has long ignored the issue. Worse, according to Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson, the administration even covered up the fraud and has been culpable in it, raising suspicion of the timing of the crackdown this week.

Here, Maine Policy CEO Matthew Gagnon and Policy Analyst Montana Towers discuss the matter on Matt's WGAN Morning News show.
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"Well...it probably wasn't REAL socialism, guys."
08/06/2026

"Well...it probably wasn't REAL socialism, guys."

This opinion editorial was published in the Portland Press Herald this week.Serious question: Given the fact that the Ma...
08/06/2026

This opinion editorial was published in the Portland Press Herald this week.

Serious question: Given the fact that the Maine Legislature has demonstrated precisely zero fiscal restraint, has dramatically increased the state’s budget by 45% since 2019, and has provided a profoundly underwhelming return on the spending, why should we trust the money will be spent wisely, meaningfully, and honestly?

Why should more hardworking Mainers — even those in an anomalous cohort — surrender more of their hard-earned money to the Maine government after we’ve witnessed its egregious spending habits and abysmal fiscal management for the last eight years?

To be clear, Maine Policy Institute has not only been opposed to this surcharge tax, but to taxes affecting all Mainers in general.

In 2025, Governor Janet Mills and the Maine Legislature passed a slate of new taxes that affect ordinary, working Mainers, taking more of their money to be used for — what, exactly? To help Mainers, or to fill some budgetary shortfall created by lawmakers in Augusta? In any case, we opposed those taxes, too — not to mention the limitless spending. To compound the offense, Governor Mills had made hollow campaign promises not to raise taxes, and sure enough…

The reality is, as with most or all “progressive” ideas, taking more money from Maine taxpayers and throwing it at various issues to ostensibly benefit Mainers is, at this point, rooted in unrealistic and utopian fantasies, given our state government’s track record with spending and fiscal mismanagement in the last eight years.

It's truly no wonder why so many Mainers perceive Maine as unaffordable, and why some are considering leaving the state altogether.

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