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Morning Sentinel
Unused gift cards add to revenue problems
Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 11/22/2007

AUGUSTA -- An unusual suspect is responsible for $28 million of the $95 million revenue downgrade -- gift cards.

How is that so?

State Treasurer David Lemoine explained it this way:

A few years ago, the Legislature passed a bill that said Maine would be first in line to claim the money that goes unused when a Maine resident doesn't spend the value on a gift card.

Lawmakers figured if you didn't spend the money in two years, it should end up on the state's unclaimed property list.

But out-of-state companies that issue the cards feel differently, Lemoine said.

They have refused to comply with Maine law, even after Lemoine sent letters to about 50 of them over the summer. The state Attorney General's Office is looking into it, but in the meantime, the money the state thought it would be getting is not coming in, he said.

"Regardless of whether enforcement action is successful, the funds are unlikely to come in during the current biennium," he said.

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Reader comments

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MainlyMaid of Auburn, ME
Nov 24, 2007 8:51 PM
Why does this state think they are entitled to everything? I have lived here my whole life and it just gets worse and worse. It seems that the only people that like it here is the out of staters and the lazy. Love the twisted politics of this place. Can't wait to sell and work in a state that values me as a hard working citizen who pays her fair share and contributes.report abuse
Steve Foster of Oakland, ME
Nov 22, 2007 4:25 PM
Huh? I buy a gift card for $50.00. I spend $45.00. The state gets to keep the other $5? What kind of b.s. voodoo economics is that? Let me guess, they transfer the money out of my gift card and put it on a food stamp card for some non working slug to use to buy beer. Oh, now I get it. That's fair. How much money is given out to people to buy doritoes and beer every year. Cut that program, cut welfare, increase funding to prisons and make these slugs work or go to jail. Problem solved.report abuse
Cynical of Central, ME
Nov 22, 2007 8:58 AM
I wish there was some way we could just go to an ATM and cash out a gift card. I have several which I have used part of - it's a pain trying to use them up.report abuse
Working_towards a_healthier_Maine of Meddybemps, ME
Nov 22, 2007 7:45 AM
Our state government is grasping at every revenue straw no matter how ridiculous they may be. Tax and spend economics.

IMPEACH BALDACCI. He is an idiot.report abuse

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