There is a statewide tax cap question on the Nov. 3 election ballot in every ward and town in New Hampshire that you may not have heard about amid all the electioneering on the airwaves. It will be Question 2, brought to you by HB 1300.
Many schools have signs nearby urging voters to “Vote No on Question 2 … the school budget cap.” Parents dropping off and picking up children every day are inundated with the message.
One writer, speaking on behalf of a local SAU, sent an email notifying people of an informational session billed as “non-partisan.”
Don’t be fooled. If a school district or its allies argue they cannot operate within the optional HB 1300 tax cap, they are essentially saying that school property taxes can and must rise faster than inflation.
Only a handful of states have no school tax cap — including Maine, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia — and Hawaii has no school property tax at all. Forty-plus states have mandatory school tax caps, and one state’s cap is optional: New Hampshire.
Think of this tax cap question on the Nov. 3 ballot as a guardrail, not a tax cut; it brings New Hampshire closer to the national norm.
The Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers (CNHT) describes the tax cap ballot question as a choice that does not freeze school budgets or prohibit school spending from growing. Instead, it places a limit on the amount raised through local property taxes by tying it to inflation and community growth, while separately imposing a 6% administrative spending cap.
Together, the group says, the provisions aim to constrain property tax increases and administrative costs while preserving the ability to fund legitimate needs through other revenue sources and voter-approved exceptions.
Key points from the CNHT’S information include: Growth is indexed to inflation. It does not limit the total school budget.
There is a separate 6% cap on administrative spending. Question 2 appears only on the 2026 and 2028 ballots. Bonds for new construction are excluded from the cap.
I believe this tax cap is reasonable in light of other spending, because taxpayers don’t just build schools. Grafton County, where I live, for example, is proposing to build another courthouse (approximately $95 million, including interest on the bond) and has seen interest in building another nursing home and potentially redesigning part of the current Grafton County Nursing Home into an assisted-living facility on county grounds.
Voters should consider the issue carefully and on Nov. 3 vote “yes” on Question 2, the school budget cap, or we’ll soon be taxing ourselves out of our homes.
“Low taxes are the result of low spending,” said Meldrim Thomson, New Hampshire governor from 1973 to 1979.
