business capital

In our Your Choice, Your Voice series, you told us you were interested in learning about a variety of issues and the top response was inflation.The annual inflation rate reached a 40-year high of 9.1% by the middle of 2022. As of last month, it has eased to just 2.4 percent. Even though the inflation rate has eased, prices are still about 20% higher than when President Joe Biden took office.To highlight the inflation issue, Maine’s Total Coverage visited the Augusta Food Bank on Free Food Thursday. Jon and Sandy Willette started coming to the Augusta Food Bank about a year ago. We asked him if he thinks inflation is the problem. “Oh wicked, wicked,” Jon said. “When we go to the store, we go to Sam’s Club once a month, and we don’t get out of there less than 300 bucks, and we don’t have much.”The Willettes have a garden that supplies them with produce during the summer, but needed some help during the colder months because they, like many Mainers, are on a fixed income.”We wouldn’t have any fruits or vegetables, yeah we wouldn’t have vegetables now because winter, we’d struggle. I’d have to put it on a credit card and pay by the month,” Jon said.”We’re three people living in a one-bedroom,” Jacob Kanaris added. He also utilizes the Augusta Food Bank.”This place has been an amazing help,” Kanaris said.Kanaris and the Willettes aren’t alone in their need. On Thursday morning, when the food bank is open to surrounding communities, cars line the road, and sometimes people have to wait for hours.In 2019, the Augusta Food Bank distributed 600,000 lbs of food. By 2023, that number was 1.2 million lbs.Bob Moore is the food banks director, he said over the last few years he’s seen a lot of people who are part of the ALICE program which stands for asset limited, income constrained, employed.”It’s people who are gainfully employed or people that are on fixed income like social security, and the rising costs of everything else, whatever they’re receiving for money hasn’t kept up with inflation,” Moore said.”We used to be ashamed we didn’t want to go, and we just struggled,” Jon Willette said when asked how he decided to start going to the food bank.Moore said it’s hard for people to admit they need help and go to the food bank, so he and his team try to make it as comfortable as possible for people and set it up like a grocery store. With one goal in mind, to help neighbors in need.”We might not be able to help them with their rent, we might not be able to help them with other bills and things they have on their plate, but don’t let food be the thing you go without,” Moore said.Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing some additional tax hikes on wealthy Americans and continue President Biden’s pledge to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.Former President Donald Trump wants to extend all the individual income and estate tax cuts that his 2017 law provides, which includes an increase to the standard deduction, lower marginal income tax rates for most income brackets and an increase to the estate tax exemption.