Who Wants A Tax Cap? - Granite Grok

Who Wants A Tax Cap?

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If we rely on our elected or appointed officials (aka, the “elites”) to restrain spending of tax dollars on their own volition, we are kidding ourselves.

The only effective ways to restrain ever-increasing taxes are (a) to throw the bums out and elect true fiscal conservatives in their places; and/or (b) to enact tax caps provided for in New Hampshire laws.

Throwing the bums out is often easier said than done. Our elected officials generally do not get paid very much, so most are volunteers, with the result that many people who would be true fiscal conservatives will not put themselves forward as candidates. An unfortunate state of affairs.

But even considering what might best be described as “mixed” results from the Town elections this past Tuesday, there was a very bright spot in the Town of Milton, a Strafford County town of about 4,600 residents, through the efforts of activist Glenn Bailey.

Through the tireless efforts of Glenn and other like-minded voters who have simply had enough, the Town of Milton passed a tax cap, with 505 (62.1%) in favor, and 280 (34.4)% opposed. Passage required an affirmative vote of 3/5th or 60%.

This writer was privileged to assist in this endeavor by drafting a template for the petition warrant article, including suggested variations in the language that might or could be used depending on what the proponents might want- in other words, there are various ways to word a tax cap and alternative language is available for those purposes.

The Milton tax cap article that passed read as follows:

Article 24: Adoption of a Tax Cap (Submitted by Petition)
Shall we adopt the provisions of RSA 32:5-b, and implement a tax cap whereby the governing body (or budget committee) shall not submit a recommended budget that increases the amount to be raised by local taxes, based on the prior fiscal year’s actual amount of local taxes raised, by more than the lesser of (a) 2%; or (b) the percentage by which the US Consumer Price Index- All Urban Consumers for the Northeast, published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (the “Index”) as of the month of January of each year increased, if any, over the Index for the month of January of the immediately-preceding year. (3/5 Majority Vote Required).
Not Recommended by the Board of Selectmen (0, 3, 0)

Note that in order to get a petition warrant article on the ballot one must obtain the signatures of at least 25 registered voters in the town on the petition. Because of the possibility that some signatures might not pass muster for any number of reasons it is always best to plan to get 40 or 50 signatures just to be sure.

And a word of caution: The proponents must be prepared to defend the petition warrant article against any changes that might be proposed in a Town Meeting held in advance of the election. Thus, it would not be unusual for opponents to seek, in a Town Meeting, to have the specific cap numbers contained in the petition reduced to what may be a meaningless level.

So, if any readers would like to be furnished with copies of the templates in Word, including the basic petition as well as the alternative numerical definitional phrases that might be used, simply email this writer at njs@silbersnh.com and they will be sent to you.

Another word of caution (lawyers are often compared to weasels, sometimes for good reason): Although the templates seek to “track” the language of the applicable RSA and thus they “should” work if passed, unless and until a proposed warrant article using one or more variations of the templates being furnished is actually challenged in court and a court renders a decision that the proposed warrant article complies with applicable law, it is always subject to challenge and the possibility that it may be removed from the ballot by order of a court.

Finally, applicable Bar rules require me to tell you the following: This is political speech. This is not legal advice nor is it intended to be. This email and its contents are being furnished solely as a matter of information and education, and if you have specific questions or issues about the contents and/or its possible applicability to a specific situation, you should consult with your own lawyer. This writer is not your lawyer and has not been engaged to represent you. And this communication is not an advertisement for providing legal services nor is it intended to be a solicitation of anyone for possible legal representation.

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