NH Constitution:
[Art.] 28. [Taxes, by Whom Levied.] No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duty, shall be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the people, or their representatives in the legislature, or authority derived from that body.
November 28, 1984
During my second term as a Budget Committee, I started to ask a question of both the Town leaders and of the School Board: “how many programs is the State forcing us to do and for which they send no or not enough money? Hey, why are we doing all these things for free? Has anyone ever said “No” (or even bothered)? Sadly, those that were elected had never even contemplated such a thing and when I pursued the question, no one could even answer the question. Worse, when I started to dig in my heels on this, I got outvoted when I made a motion – nobody cared and the Selectmen and School Board did not want be bothered. It was not worth their effort to say “look at the money we can save” and be willing to use the NH Constitution as a defensive shield (which is what this article is supposed to do to protect the taxpayers against predatory politicians).
Thus, I was somewhat cheered when I read this in the Laconia Daily Sun:
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