NH Ranked in Top 5 in Overall Freedom, That's Good Right? Well... - Granite Grok

NH Ranked in Top 5 in Overall Freedom, That’s Good Right? Well…

New Hampshire is doing pretty well as we start 2013.  First it was revealed that, “NH Ranked 10th Best State for Gun Owners by Guns & Ammo Magazine”.  That’s good news.  Especially when one considers we might need it with all of the leftists that can no longer afford to live in the surrounding states or other Big Gov states because of the policies for which they voted, so they decided to uplift their considerable derrieres (at least this literally true in one case of a transplant from RI) and come here to infect us with the same contagion that drove them from their former dwellings.

Today comes news that New Hampshire is ranked in the top 5 for “Freedom in the 50 States 2013.” by the Mercatus Center and George Mason University.  This ranking, “… is a combination of personal and economic freedoms.”  Nice!

Wait, not so fast.  There’s a pattern here, from the analysis

By the end of 2010, New Hampshire was no longer the freest state in the nation. The 2009—10 legislature hiked numerous taxes and fees and used one-time stimulus dollars and new debt to fund a significant increase in government spending.

In FY 2010, the state and local tax burden was 8.0 percent of personal income, seventh lowest in the country, compared to an FY 2000 figure of 7.5 percent, then lowest in the United States. State and local government consumption and subsidies stood at 9.0 percent of income in 2010, compared to 7.3 percent in 2000. Debt was at 18.8 percent of income, compared to 16.7 percent a decade earlier. While New Hampshire still scores sixth in the United States on fiscal policy, the famed “New Hampshire advantage” has dissipated. It is too early to tell whether the 2011—12 legislature, which enacted swinging spending cuts, has undone the damage.

On regulatory policy, New Hampshire’s ranking is mediocre, although it has slightly and gradually improved since 2001. Eminent domain reforms have gone far, but exclusionary local zoning laws have driven out affordable housing in the suburbs of southern New Hampshire. Labor-market freedom is subpar: the state lacks a right-to-work law and has a universal workers’ compensation mandate. Telecom and cable remain regulated. New Hampshire fares better than average on occupational freedom, and its liability system is one of the best.

New Hampshire remains one of the few states to score well on both economic and personal freedom. However, its personal freedom score has declined slightly since 2001. Gun control laws are among the most liberal in the country, but carrying a firearm in a car requires a concealed-carry permit. Effective retail tax rates on wine and spirits are zero. New Hampshire is the only state with no seat belt law for adults. Gambling laws are strict, however. The 2011—12 legislature repealed the ban on audiorecording public officials, after the closing date of this study. State approval is required to open a private school and home school laws are mediocre; the 2011—12 legislature has since liberalized them. That legislature also enacted a tax credit for private and home school expenses. These education reforms would have put New Hampshire in third place on personal freedom. Incarceration and drug arrests are low. Same-sex marriage was also legalized during this period.

It seems that there’s more substance than snarky quip to the effects of the liberal transplant and others engorged on Big Gov invading NH, its legislature and its Governor’s office.  NH dropped because of more regulation and a legislature and Gov that wanted to crackdown on freedom.

I read this and I think we have a lot of work to do to get back to #1.  However, when I think of recent votes and the statist vermin in the House, I think they’re looking to race towards #50.  For example Rhode Island, the previous domicile of corpulent House Rep Democrat Cynthia Chase (Cheshire Dist 8), ranks in at a whopping 46.  I bet she’s looking to beat that.  She probably wants NH to be the equal to the amount of Whoppers she can ingest in a single sitting: 50!  Time to go on a diet. Time for the Senate to stop the feeding of beasts.

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