A statewide vote on the repeal of last year's tax reform package is still months away, but that didn't stop the debate over taxes from erupting once again in the Maine Senate today. At issue was an effort by Republicans to remove the sales tax on meals served in assisted living centers.

The debate on the bill started off as a well-intended effort to exempt Mainers living in assisted-living centers from paying a sales tax on the meals that are included as part of their rent. State Sen. Joe Perry, a Bangor Democrat, says he can understand why Republicans would like to see the meals tax go away.

"And albiet, most of these facilities are high end, with very high rents, very nice places," he said. "That's not the issue -- it didn't seem right to charge a sales tax on prepared meals that is part of your rent and provided as a service within your home."

And, in fact, Democrats also supported the exemption as part of their comprehensive tax reform bill -- the same bill that's been suspeded by a Republican-led people's veto effort, and that will be put to a statewide vote this June.

Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to cherry-pick the tax exemptions they like, while trying to derail the rest. Perry says he had been advised by the Maine Attorney General's Office that the Legislature should refrain from taking action on taxes until the people's veto effort is resolved in June.

"Ultimately, it will be up to the voters," he said. "Should they want to reject tax reform, they will be rejecting this exemption for these facilities, along with all sorts of other tax changes and burden reduction, which is in there. So at this point, we've been advised by the Attorney General's Office that this would be a significant conflict, and it's just something we can't pass right now."

But Republicans, including state Sen. Richard Nass of Acton, aren't so sure. "Obviously, for those of us who are in favor of repeal of tax reform, this is hanging -- like a hanging chad out there."

Nass joined other members of his party in arguing that if the Legislature wanted to find a way to exempt the meals tax, it could find the money to make the cuts needed to do so. Republican state Sen. Debra Plowman of Hampden agrees.

"There are provisions that if the Legislature finds a state of emergency, or that it can muster the two-thirds, that there is an avenue, and that the Constitution never meant for the Legislature to be reigned in to this extent," Plowman said. "So while we have the opinion, the whole opinion is that it may go forward with those provisions."

But Senate Majority Leader Philip Bartlett, a Gorham Democrat, says Republicans are attempting to retract portions of a larger tax reform package they they had worked to overturn at the ballot box. Bartlett says both parties should now let the process play out.

"Thousands of signatures have been raised, led by the chair of the Republican Party, to put this issue squarely before voters. That was the right of everybody involved in that to do -- to go gather the signatures to put it on the ballot," Bartlett said. "Once that is done, the right of the voters to have their say on the initiative is sacred, and what we're talking about here is meddling in that process, saying we're going to start picking that apart, passing it one at a time and potentially try to influence the outcome of that vote."

The GOP effort to exempt the meals tax failed in the Senate, 22-13 with all but two Republicans voting in favor.