NH Ranked 7th Best Overall for BusinessTax Climate - Granite Grok

NH Ranked 7th Best Overall for BusinessTax Climate

2017 Tax Foundation Biz Tax ClimateThe Tax Foundation has released their 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index, and New Hampshire ranks 7th best in the nation.

That’s impressive considering how poorly the Granite State did in some key categories. It ranked 46th for Corporate taxes (this report does not account for the recent reductions in that tax), 43rd for Property taxes, and 41st for unemployment taxes.

New Hampshire Business Review notes that,

“… the [Business] tax rate wasn’t the only thing that hurt the state. It also received poor marks for some of its tax policies. New Hampshire is one of the two states that limit carryforward of losses and it doesn’t have an alternative minimum tax for corporations, apparently a no-no. The state was given credit for its research and development tax. Luckily, the report doesn’t note that it is one of the few states that caps that deduction, though the cap was lifted from $2 million to $7 million last year. (Also, the report didn’t know what to do with the uniquely New Hampshire business enterprise tax, which taxes companies that don’t even make a profit on their wages, interest, and dividends.)

And while we do tax cigarettes, beer, Gasoline, and Tourists (rooms and meals), there’s no broad-based sales tax and no individual income tax, which always weighs favorably in the overall ranking.

People who like to bitch about our property taxes may not realize (or ignore) that compressing a majority of taxes in this way increases visibility. Property taxes are more transparent. You see them on the bill and feel them when you write the check. It can result in a cathartic experience that leads to questions demanding answers that have a limiting effect on the size and scope of both local and state government. That helps to lower overall tax burden

States laying claim to “lower property taxes” don’t rank as well overall in any discussion about taxes because they hide their plundering in other personal or business transactions. Paying a few bucks every day here or there may not even rise to the level of black fly season in New England. The sums are smaller, less painful, less outrage-inducing than a lump sum bill twice a year, but ultimately lead to more plundering not less.

They are paying more, and they don’t know it which is why grow-government politicians are forever proposing “tax balancing” legislation that promises to lower property taxes by raising them directly from someone else’s income or someone else’s consumption. The problem is that the someone else is you to someone else, so we all get taxed more often in more places. And property tax relief, if any, is short lived. The result is a higher overall tax burden and less transparency.

At present New Hampshire taxes less of your total income than most states. Are its methods perfect? No. There is no ideal way to rob someone else of the fruits of their labor. But property taxes are limited by the amount of property, property improvements, and the tolerance of those being taxed for the fools they elect.

Like it or not it is part of the New Hampshire Advantage and it still makes a difference.

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