Maine’s new surplus ought to fund psychological well being

The COVID recession lasted for simply two months: March and April 2020. Since then, the financial system has been recovering, at occasions rising quicker than it has in nearly 40 years.

However everybody who has lived by the COVID years know that there’s much more to the story.

Throughout the nation and right here in Maine, the recession and subsequent restoration weren’t felt in the identical manner by everybody.

Maine has nonetheless not made all of it the best way again, regardless of 22 months of financial development. There are 20,000 fewer employed individuals than there have been earlier than the pandemic. However you wouldn’t know that by state funds. Cash is coming in quicker than anticipated, with income forecasters including $411 million to the $822 million surplus that lawmakers have been tasked with distributing with the intention to hold the two-year funds that was handed final 12 months in stability.

Gov. Mills had proposed sending half of the unique surplus again to Maine individuals within the type of $500 checks that might go to roughly 800,000 taxpayers. With the brand new projection, Mills has stated she want to enhance the checks to $750. Although lots of people would recognize the assistance, we hope lawmakers bear in mind the unequal manner this recession has affected the state. Maine had unmet wants earlier than the pandemic, and so they didn’t go away over the last two years. If something, they acquired worse.

One other $200 million may make vital investments that might repay sooner or later: in group psychological well being, in housing and in assist for households with kids. Utilizing this windfall to enhance the lives of people that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, lots of whom have been struggling even earlier than it hit, can be the easiest way to handle Maine’s restoration.

Mills’ unique thought, the $500 funds, is sensible contemplating the bizarre character of the financial system.

The tax collections present that whole incomes are rising, however for whom? The inventory market is booming, which is nice if you happen to personal inventory however not a lot assist if you happen to don’t. Dwelling costs are skyrocketing, and that’s good for sellers however not for consumers.

Most significantly, wages have elevated, however so have costs, and that impacts everybody whether or not they acquired a increase or not.

There may be nothing that the state can do to regulate inflation, however it might probably put cash within the pockets of people that have needed to pay extra on the grocery retailer and fuel pump. And sending everybody in Maine the identical quantity helps individuals on the low finish of the wage scale greater than these on the prime, who need assistance much less. It’s definitely higher than a reduce in tax charges, which might ship essentially the most cash to these with the largest incomes and dig a long-term gap in future budgets.

However inflation shouldn’t be the one downside affecting Maine households.

Historic underfunding of group psychological well being providers has solely gotten worse throughout the pandemic when extra federal funds haven’t stored up with elevated demand for providers. Lawmakers ought to ask if there are investments they might make in upfront program prices that might be sustainable in the long run with MaineCare reimbursements, that are paid principally by the federal authorities.

Nursing houses, group houses, substance use therapy facilities and different service suppliers are struggling to maintain their doorways open, not to mention develop, as a result of they can not provide aggressive wages. A inventive use of surplus income may do extra good than sending out checks to individuals who could not even want them.

We’re almost two years away from the unprecedented recession attributable to what we then knew as “the novel coronavirus.” In some ways we have now bounced again higher than many had predicted.

However identical to the virus, the financial disruption didn’t have an effect on everybody in the identical manner. Our response to those unprecedented financial circumstances ought to mirror that.

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