Grads are raw material for the new economy

Lewiston Sun Journal editorial

Traps are useless without lobsters. Paper mills are useless without trees. Innovative economies are useless without youthful, energetic workers to propel them.

Unlike Maine's natural resource-based industries, the ballyhooed "creative economy" depends on cultivated raw material: educated workers. College graduates don't occur naturally, like pines or crustaceans, but are reaped through educational availability, investments and incentives.

Lack of educated workers is cited, over and over, as Maine's economic tripwire. The Legislature, to its credit, showed vision last week when the Taxation Committee enthusiastically supported creating tax credits of up to $2,100 for graduates of Maine colleges who elect to stay, and work, in the state.

It's a sensible, forward-thinking policy that simply cannot hurt to try.

The legislation arose from a ballot initiative called Opportunity Maine, which collected more than 70,000 signatures for the proposal to appear on the November ballot. If the legislative effort fails, this is where this laudable idea will appear later this year.

Tax credits, essentially, fund potential growth, with the hope that today's government support will lead to tomorrow's fiscal reward. College graduates are a smart bull's-eye at which to aim such public investment.

There is no guarantee this credit, however, will change Maine's economic landscape, or kick-start the creative economy so touted by politicians and business interests. The tax credit, however, shouldn't be viewed as a guarantee of finite results. It's investment in raw material, pulp for the new economy.

Most important, this tax credit invests in an overlooked resource: people. This isn't about quality places or other trendy entities that are hopeful magnets for future dollars. As much potential likely exists in tempting college graduates to stay in Maine as feeding funds into emaciated downtowns.

Excitement over the tax credit was revealed through the committee's support, and comments from representatives such as Rep. L. Gary Knight, R-Livermore, who spoke of broadening the idea to include graduates interested in repatriation to Maine.

The credit needs time to work first. Broadening it, either for expatriates or perhaps retroactive application, would carry costs. As constituted, the credit lures graduates to stay where they might not, a simple proposal for a complicated problem, and one that should remain this way, for now.

We urge the Legislature to enact the tax credit as a signal to graduates they are welcome, and urged, to stay. Maine's new economy needs them to thrive.

First, though, Maine needs them to stay here.