In the area of tax cuts, the proposal would reduce tax revenues to the state by $150 million over the biennium, down from the $203 million originally sought by LePage. The hallmark of the tax cut package is a plan to lower Maine’s top income tax rate from 8.5 percent to 7.95 percent. The plan also increases personal and standard deductions by conforming Maine’s tax code with the federal government’s. The result is an estimated 70,000 lower-income Mainers who will not owe any income taxes. More controversially, the budget also doubles Maine’s exemption to the estate tax, meaning the heirs of property, farms or businesses will not pay the “death tax” on the first $2 million of the estate’s value. Critics have decried that as a give-away to the wealthy. - bangordailynews.com