For Immediate Release
Coalition of NH Taxpayers
8 North Main St #4
Concord NH 03301
March 29, 2017
Concord, NH — The House deadline to pass a budget is April 6th, and the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers is very concerned. Over the past four years, we have seen a net increase under Gov. Hassan of $310 million (2014-15 budget) over the (’12-’13) budget and a $554 million (2016-17) budget over the prior (’14-’15) budget. Now we are facing a House Budget that potentially could be a $700+ million increase.
Now that we are facing the budget horizon, we have seen little evidence that the House is crafting a conservative budget. In fact, it appears that the House is committed to running the State aground financially, and they are preparing to do it, full-steam ahead.
Inside sources say the House budget will be “trimmed” but still raises spending over $700 million. Genuine cuts of $56 million were made to align with lower revenue projections by the Ways and Means Committee. However, a true budget increase of over $700 million can be seen when disregarding the Finance Committee’s gimmick of counting $219 million in phony cuts. These pretend reductions to Loan Repayments, Public Transportation, Special Ed, Medicaid to Schools, and more, were all appropriations of Federal Funds and there is no real intention to eliminate any of this spending. All of these expenditures can and will be approved by the Fiscal Committee at a future date.
This new proposed budget is still $150 million MORE than any budget passed under Gov. Hassan.
During the 2016 elections, the taxpayers worked hard to make sure conservatives were sent to the State House, yet it appears that the elected officials lost sight of the commitments they made when they were sworn in, and today they are spending like “drunken sailors.”
The House leadership has resorted to gimmicks like kickbacks to towns of $25 million each year, something that historically raised taxes by allowing greater local spending instead of cutting taxes which ensures the money stays with the taxpayers.
Chairman Ed Naile had this to say about the bloated budget. “Having spent years fighting massive increases in spending, I’m shocked and outraged that I can’t even turn my attention away for a minute to work on voter fraud, without the same tax and spend politicians taking over the State House and spending us into oblivion. I’m beginning to think it is time for another “Drunken Sailor” party on the State House steps.” He went on to say: “It is incomprehensible to imagine that in a time of abundant revenues that the House budget does nothing to cut taxes or reduce what is taken from the taxpayers.”
Chairman Naile concluded that given that Republicans control the Governorship, House, and Senate, we should have a reasonable expectation that the budget would be a common sense budget for the citizens of New Hampshire.
