There is an ongoing feud between horror writer Stephen King and the Republican governor of Maine, because of course there is. Last week, Governor Paul LePage talked about his plan to abolish the state income tax, citing how some Maine residents have moved away as a result of the tax in the first place.
He singled out King, and the author fired back on Twitter, saying he does pay his taxes in the state of Maine.
King called on LePage to apologize. But based on comments the governor made yesterday, he has no intention of doing so. First, on Wednesday, LePage said that King was “gilding the lily and playing with semantics.” He insisted he never said that King didn’t pay his taxes:
“I never said that, sir, so I’m not going to apologize. I never said Stephen King did not pay income taxes. What I said was, Stephen King’s not in Maine right now. That’s what I said. How the papers report it, I don’t know.”
And yesterday, at another event, LePage joked, “Just make me the villain of your next book and I won’t charge you royalties.”
[h/t TPM]
[image via Featureflash/Shutterstock, Wikimedia Commons]
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