I hope this letter finds you well in these extremely challenging times. I am writing you today to ask that you reconsider your decision to maintain the April 15th deadline for the submission of our income taxes. President Trump has already moved the federal deadline to July 15th and I'm asking you to match this date in an effort to help alleviate the financial strains facing Maine's people.

The fact is, by April 15th, many Mainers will be out of money, unable to pay their bills, and they will be depending on the kindness of friends, families,  strangers, bailouts, and the emergency measures you have taken, to get by. 

People are unable to go to work or have already lost their jobs, as small businesses close and also struggle to stay afloat. People who are forced to go to work, such as the men and women of Bath Iron Works, further exposes the moral turpitude of General Dynamics, which is putting their profits ahead of the safety of not only the workers themselves, who labor in crowded conditions, but also their families and the community at large.This is no time to add to that burden by forcing the April 15th deadline for income tax collection.

I know Maine is entering tough times. Not since 1929 has the country experienced what we are about to face, another depression with massive unemployment. We in government cannot add to that stress. During your news conference earlier this week you maintained that Maine needs the revenue by April 15th in order to function. I am sympathetic to the stresses you are facing, but adding a financial strain to our people is not the answer. People need all the help they can get right now, it's  an emergency. If the state runs short of money on April 15th, we can go out and borrow it like the rest of us have to. The State can borrow at near 0% percent, so it's not like it's going to cost us anything in the long run. In addition, the way the state income tax forms are comported, people use data from their federal return to enter onto the state form. With the federal deadline pushed out to July 15th, tax filing in Maine is going to be inaccurate and a disaster for the Maine Revenue Service.

I am pleading with you to revise your directive in reference to the April 15th state income tax filing deadline. Please match it up with the July 15th federal directive. We are all in this together and I am in  hopes that by July 15th, we will see better days.

I wish you the best in these difficult times.

Representative Jeffrey Evangelos, Friendship