The six states with the highest tax burdens are Hawaii, New York, Vermont, California, Maine, and Illinois, based on income, property, sales, and excise taxes. The six lowest are New Hampshire, Wyoming, Tennessee, South Dakota, Florida, and Oklahoma. Notice anything?
All the highest-taxed areas are Democrat-controlled, while the lowest are led by a Republican Governor. Look deeper. While recorded tax rates are wildly higher in Democrat states, so are the “hidden” taxes.
Electricity costs in Democrat states are exorbitant, highest in Democrat-led Hawaii (27.71 cents per kilowatt-hour), New York 26.65, Vermont 30.63, California 31.58, Maine 28.25, and Illinois 18.09.
At the same time, electricity costs in the Republican-led states are lowest, 5.79 cents per kWh in Wyoming, 5.94 in New Hampshire, 6.38 in Tennessee, 6.46 in South Dakota, 6.49 in Florida, and 7.0 in Oklahoma.
Energy costs in these overtaxed Democrat states average 27.15 cents per kWh. Energy in low-tax Republican-led states averages 13 cents per kWh. Anything occur to you?
Everywhere, Democrats make life expensive; Republicans make it affordable. If you live in one of these Democrat-controlled states, you pay more combined taxes than in Republican-led states and more than twice as much for your electricity. You lose twice.
If you are unlucky enough to live in a Democrat-controlled state like Maine, which saw a 36 percent jump in electricity costs in 2024 – the highest in the nation – the reality is far starker. That state absorbed $2.2 billion in federal subsidies for solar and wind power buildouts, with nothing to show for it.
Like many Democrat-led states, Maine’s leadership pretends they are helping ratepayers with green buildouts and their “net energy plan,” which taxes fossil fuel users to build out solar. It is a snow job.
Democrat leaders – facing scrutiny for high taxes and hidden costs – fudge the truth or just lie, making these “green subsidies” appear to be helpful to ratepayers, when they absolutely are not.
Examples are revealing. Maine’s out-of-lunch Democrat governor – clinically obsessed with President Trump – is a perfect example of deceit in action, poor and shameless leadership.
After spending the state into the fourth highest tax burden and highest energy jump, she claimed – after spending $2.2 billion in federal subsidies – “renewable energy” generated 57 percent of Maine’s in-state energy. A fabrication intended to warm her constituency, as the State shivers.
Under Biden, wind and power were a one-time gift, $2.2 billion federal subsidy – recently cut off. They were never sustainable, market-driven, or in-state generation; just goosing the system, putting federal money into wind and solar, which otherwise fails. This was a handout, nothing more.
Look at that 57 percent closer. While most Mainers depend on oil, gas, and wood, 37 percent of the state’s “renewable” energy is hydroelectric power. It is not wind or sun. If you deduct 37 percent from the 57 percent claim, you get 20 percent tied to solar and wind, all handouts, most out-of-state.
To ice this bold Democrat lie – like in so many pushed by blue states – look at the news. Maine’s Governor wants to shut down four big hydro-energy dams on a major river – to “save the salmon,” while dealing a body-blow to Maine businesses and ratepayers, an eight billion dollar economic hit.
Bottom line? Modern, progressive Democrat leaders lie openly and appear not to care. They are about power and ideology. They drive taxes up, promote unchecked spending, no accountability. They are not stewards but spenders.
To be clear: Limitless spending, driven by unaccountable Democrat leaders and ideology, ends in a death spiral. Maine is in one. Other Democrat-controlled states are not far behind. To continue wildly spending and wildly taxing for ideology is unsustainable. To keep the republic, it has to stop.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
