Articles tagged as

Taxes

From the Desk of Representative William O’Brien

From the Desk of Representative William O’Brien If you don’t think that State Government should grow at 5% a year while the economy is growing at 2% a year, resulting in a two-year 10.2% increase in state spending, $263 million in new taxes, $31 million in revenue overestimates, $7 million in cost downshifting to local … Read more

Three Million Dollar Taxpayer Funded FRM Bailout?

Today there will be a House Committee vote on SB180, a bill establishing a taxpayer funded bailout fund for investors who got swindled by the FRM Mortgage ponzi scheme. I’ll be honest.  I’m not interested in any particulars on this.  The amended cost for the legislation is $3,000,000.00 dollars (initially) to pay off investors who read some paperwork  … Read more

Tyranny: Democrat Socialists of America in the US House saying (Ah-gain) “you don’t need all that and you didn’t earn it anyways!”

So they believe that if you have too much private property (too much cash), they have the perfect way to steal it from you: write a bill!  After all, it isn’t FAIR that you have earned so much by stealing it from the poor and middle class.  They have far better purposes for what your labor, skill, and motivation has earned you.  It’s rather simple, really – they basically want to count your money: $1 for you and we’ll take one too!  Lather, rinse, repeat – for your entire stash (not to be confused with the Obamastash which seems to come out of nowhere to give to the 47%.  Or have we found the source??  Oh, never mind – I don’t speak Mandarin).

Several House Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation that would impose a minimum 45 percent tax rate on taxable income above $1 million, and would set a 49 percent rate on income above $1 billion.

The Fairness in Taxation Act, H.R. 1723, was proposed by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who said the bill would help put the nation’s wealth back into the hands of middle- and lower-income workers.

Fairness?  To take that which was not earned by you is “fair”?  I have yet to see any reference in the Democrat Socialists of America white papers that says that they stand in solidarity with the Founders who held the pursuit of Property (which was the original wording in the Declaration until Ole’ Ben said to use “Happiness” – which was considered to the be same thing back then) was one of the philosophical underpinnings of a free society).  A man is not free when the Government can take his stuff.  After all, in all other societies at the time, if the King wanted it, the King took it by “Divine Right” for the use of his government.  Now, we see this again – this bunch of Progressives wish to regress back to that time of when Government (via the King) wants something, they will just take it.  Grokster Steve’s phrase of Fee Staters not only covers the Democrat Progressives here in NH but those in DC as well; none of them believe it is enough.

This is “progress” with respect human Liberty and Freedom?  Obviously, no to the question but yes to their intent.  We see this incremental Tyranny in that these folks that believe in a foreign political philosophy certainly join in with Obama when he said “at some point, you have made enough money” (or even saved enough) –

Individual, meh.  The Collective, YEAH!

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Kill Any New Gas Taxes – It’s what the People Want

Grumpy cat NH gas tax noGallup has a poll out showing that most Americans would not support raising the gas tax 20 cents a gallon…even for infrastructure projects.

Two-thirds of Americans would vote against a state law that would increase the gas tax by up to 20 cents a gallon, with the revenue going toward improving roads and bridges and building more mass transit.

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Black Market Bloomberg

smoking - what about the tobacco taxes in New Hampshire

New York City Mayor Mike ‘Big Gulp’ Bloomberg has proposed raising the smoking age in New York City from 18 to 21 years of age.  A companion proposal would hike the price of a pack of cigarettes to more than ten dollars per pack, presumably to a) convince more people to quit and b) recover revenue lost by prohibiting a big chunk of the tax base from paying taxes on cigarettes they are no longer permitted to smoke.

But how does New York’s evil super genius plan to recover the revenue lost to the expansion of the black market?

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No, I am not one of those people!

Hate’em, hate’m, hate’m!  Yes, I’m done and brought them to the Post Office to send them to the IRS (certified / registered). Look, as a Conservative, I do believe that Government is necessary:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

 That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

As our Declaration declares (yeah, I know), the main purpose of Government is NOT to rule over us but to protect pre-existing Rights that come, not as a gift or as a decree from Government, but simply as an attribute of being a human.  Thus, I have no problem in paying for a Limited Government that does exactly that, at the Federal level, and leaves me the heck alone the rest of the time. A government that protects me against the clutches of others – including Government.  Nowhere in the Declaration or the Constitution does it say that Government is the scientist that gets to use us for social experimentation or that it is supposed to shove ‘guide’ us to some dystopian idea of their version of Utopia.  So I pay, grudgingly.  Like a skinflint.  And I hope the people that spend it have the same outlook (like I tried to have when on my local Budget Committee).  Sad to say, I doubt it (when often, on that same BudComm, I saw some act no different than a teenager with a “nothing on it” credit card that has their name on it).  Like these folks:

A Third of Americans Say They Like Doing Their Income Taxes

…However, about a third (34%) say they either like (29%) or love (5%) doing their taxes.

No, I am not one of those people – IMHO, these people literally must have nothing better to do!

Pew: On Paying Taxes

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The NH Tobacco Tax Increase is Not About Youth Smoking or Public Health…it is a Transfer of Wealth

Take some money and give it them

The Tobacco tax war is underway again, this time in the New Hampshire State Senate, as both sides debate the House passed 0.20 cent per pack tax hike before the Senate Ways and Means Committee.   Supporters of the tax point to potential health benefits and a reduction in youth smoking.  The Union Leader Article I draw this from is actually titled “Cigarette Tax Increase Seen as Deterrent to Youth Smoking,” but we already know that to be false.

According to the American Lung Associations own publications there has been absolutely no change in the middle-school smoking rate in New Hampshire since at least 2006, despite Democrats more than doubling the cigarette tax, taking it from 0.80/pack to 1.78/pack (plus a 65% wholesale price increase passed by Democrats in 2010).

The Lung Association’s reports for New Hampshire High School age smokers document the rate in 2006 at 20.5% (rising and falling) to settle in at 20.8% for 2010.

We also know that New Hampshire is consistently one of the healthiest states in the nation.

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Newest Democrat House Member Bill O’Neil – Clueless in Concord

Fresh off his decisive 37 vote special election win in Manchester on March 19th, Democrat Bill O’Neil has already made a mark in Concord. He’s gone on the record to state, unequivocably, that there are no tax increases in the Democrats new House budget. (He’s only wrong by 263 million dollars.) Oh yeah.  Doing Ward … Read more

Gun manufacturers leaving Colorado – now Connecticut’s turn to lose jobs and tax money?

Good title – but this might be just as applicable: Is the US stratifying / splitting over culture and values?  Are the gun grabbers making this go faster?

After all, what good is it to stay in a State that has made it illegal to sell, transfer, or effectively transport your wares?  Or that your neighbors down the street couldn’t buy your product?  Hate to keep harping on it, but Progressivism depends on incrementalism – don’t go for the home run (unless you own all branches of Government) but do the singles all the time….one step by another.  Oh sure, you can sell your wares out of state…..today.  Tomorrow?  Some of the Connecticut gun and firearms manufacturers are confronting that now – like Stag Arms that makes AR-15s which can no longer be sold in Connecticut (reformatting, emphasis mine):

As the Connecticut General Assembly is poised to pass what is being called sweeping gun control legislation, the state’s gun manufacturers say the new laws could be crippling.  “I feel like we have one foot being pushed out the door,” Mark Malkowski, the owner of Stag Arms, said.   Stag Arms in New Britain, which makes the AR-15 rifle, received yet another offer on Tuesday to move out of the state. It brings the total to 21 offers.   “They’re really good offers,” Malkowski said. “They are offering tax abatement’s, they’re offering to build you a factory.”

Lots of Red States, more conservative states, are ACHING to have them move out of Connecticut and to their State.  An offer to build you a factory will be hard to resist.

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Immigrant Do-gooders want others to care for those they bring – yeah, that’s responsible

From the Union Leader:

Ready or not, the refugees are coming

The state’s refugee resettlement program is expected to spread from Manchester to Nashua in the coming weeks, with 50 refugees headed toward the Gate City. Officials in both cities are expressing concern over the plans.

“I was talking about my concerns with the head of the International Institute, and the next communication I have from them is to say that they (the refugees) are coming, and we’ve found housing for them,” said Nashua Mayor Donnalee Lozeau. “I asked, ‘Where? When? Who’s coming? Are there any children?’ No one has any answers. The concerns I raised were real ones, and I feel like they weren’t addressed at all.”

The International Institute of New Hampshire (IINH) has been working for months to resettle another 200 refugees in Manchester, despite a sometimes frosty relationship with city officials. Mayor Ted Gatsas wrote a letter in 2011 to the U.S. State Department, which oversees the refugee program, faulting its “complete and utter lack of consideration for the local resettlement community.”

Actually, that headline should read:

Immigrant Do-gooders bring refugees to places where they are not

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New Hampshire House Votes to Raise Tobacco Taxes

The ten cent resolution, that one thin (not so thin) dime New Hampshire Republicans cut off the tobacco tax two years ago, expires shortly.   At the time it photos-of-extinguished-cigarette - Tobacco taxes in danger thanks to Obamacarewas proposed and passed the left was so insane with outrage that you’d have thought Republicans were selling guns to foreign drug lords across the border who were killing agents of the federal government and innocent civilians as well.  But some Democrat president was the one who’d done that so there was no moral call to war; New Hampshire Democrats were as quiet as church mice.  (Regular Church mice, the social justice Church mice are noisy sums-o-beeches–and likely protected by a stimulus grant through the EPA.) But that ten cent tax?  That was a crime against humanity.

But it was probably doomed from the start.

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Tobacco Tax Increase: The Progressives Racism And Class Warfare?

“Every man who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class.” ? B.R. Ambedkar

photos-of-extinguished-cigarette - Tobacco taxes in danger thanks to ObamacareI read Steve’s entry this morning on the tobacco tax increase the house progressives just passed. HB 659-FN-A   passed 193 to 167 largely right along party lines, bringing along the usual recognizable (and some Freshman) RINO’s. I think anybody that follows house voting behavior is not at all surprised or intrigued because those RINO’s sipping the progressive Kool-Aid ascribe to the notion that somehow fewer kids will smoke as the price of a pack increases. But the fact is, kids do pay taxes. When a 13-year-old

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Demokrat Diktionary – Tax Cuts

Tax Cuts:  Money you earned legally that the Democrats did not take from you (yet). Example.  You earn $1000.00 dollars.  The government takes $200.00, but it could have taken $500.00.  In this example, the Democrats gave you a $300.00 dollar tax cut.  (They actually gave you a 500.00 tax cut because none of that money is really … Read more

Does the Gas Tax Bill The NH House Just Passed Violate the State Constitution?

NH House passes gas tax in violation of NH Constitution

The short answer is yes.  Yes, it does.  (The long answer will be nothing but excuses from its proponents.)

Part II, Article 6-a, states that any money raised through gas taxes (gas road tolls), must be used exclusively for public highways and “no part of such revenues shall, by transfer or funds or otherwise, be diverted to any other purpose whatsoever.”

[Art.] 6-a. [Use of Certain Revenues Restricted to Highways.] All revenue in excess of the necessary cost of collection and administration accruing to the state from registration fees, operators’ licenses, gasoline road tolls or any other special charges or taxes with respect to the operation of motor vehicles or the sale or consumption of motor vehicle fuels shall be appropriated and used exclusively for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of public highways within this state, including the supervision of traffic thereon and payment of the interest and principal of obligations incurred for said purposes; and no part of such revenues shall, by transfer of funds or otherwise, be diverted to any other purpose whatsoever.

So HB 617 is unconstitutional.

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Guest Post by an angry Belknap County taxpayer

I have to say that I have been quite happy with the leadership of the Belknap County Convention this year in setting a “protect the taxpayer outlook” in examining and correcting the budget that the Belknap County Commissioners set at the beginning of the budgetary cycle.  Yes, I said correcting!  Even though they are elected officials, they showed a Statist’s view of other peoples’ money – spend it!  Even as they couched it in terms of “Oh, needs have risen so much but we have carefully cut to bone – and we are giving the taxpayers of Belknap Conty an almost 9% tax hike in their property taxes“.  In other words “screw you – we are taking your money for our purposes”.

That is, until what I consider the conservative wing of the Convention stepped in to protect taxpayers – as they are promised to do.  The running rise now is 0.3%.  My take is why is it always the taxpayers that are on tap to take the haircut – let the County Commissioners, County Admin Debbie Shackett (whose antics apparently haven’t  improved all that much since being Evans Juris’s sidekick here in Gilford – remember that wonderful Code of Ethics you and Evans  spent “hours” working on – only for me to discover you both had plaigerized it from Sunnyvale, CA?) and the rest sit in the barber’s chair….but I digress.  Here is the guest post from an interested reader from the Budget meeting for the County this past Monday:

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The meeting on Monday, February 25th was nothing but a disgrace. The County Commissioners, who believe they are all high and mighty treated the delegation and Representative Worsman with disdain and disrespect. They are the first to yell point of order, and make faces to the public. Their conduct is unbecoming elected officials. As I sat and listened to the antics of whom I now call the Three Stooges, I wonder how three grown men, can treat a lady, who always treats them with respect with such disdain. When Chair Worsman, told Rep Holmes he could not abstain from the vote, the stooges along with their cohort County Administrator Shackett, asked what parliamentary procedure she was using, and said it it Chair Worsman’s rules. I almost became unglued, because during the last budget session of 2012 when then Chair Millham, told members of the delegation they could not abstain from voting, not once but twice (review the videos) they never said a word. This just shows that they have no intention of being civil, no matter what the delegation does.

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Bangor Maine Company Moving to New Hampshire

Bangor Daily News. Maine has a “far less than friendly business environment, and that’s clear, no matter what our friend Mr. LePage puts out there,” he said Wednesday morning. “On several levels, I regret leaving the Bangor area, but from a purely economic point of view it doesn’t make sense to stay here any longer.” -Lee Coyle, … Read more

The first real test for new NH GOP Chair, Jennifer Horn: Party over Principle, or Principle over Party. Choose well.

NH-GOP_logo

Dear NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn,

While it is true that we supported your opponent in the race to replace Wayne McDonald, we have watched you doing the right things as the new Chair.  We have needed someone to be on the attack instead of silent.  We have needed someone willing to get out of the office and not just to go to yet another GOP meeting.

We have seen both so far.  More needs to be seen and the intensity measured as well.  Thus far, we have taken the tack of “not actively helping, but not actively griping either” – we can do both (some believe the latter far better than the former, btw) but given that the race was decided, we decided to sit back and see how things would start to shake out.

Do not take this as “a damning with faint praise” moment – so far, we are staying cautiously optimistic.  Overall, given the short amount of time into your term thus far, stay on the same road you are on.  However, you have an important speed bump that you are about to hit – or have you already bounced over it without wondering “er, what was that and what damage has it done?”.  You are confronted with a Branding Moment.  A Defining Moment.  No, not for you as Chair, per se, but for the Party – what NOW will be the outward face to the Public?  Or will the be The Spinning Top Party moment?

HB617 – where every NH House Republican on the Public Works Committee supported a large TAX.  Our most prolific commenters (with the quirkiest name and oft, an even more quirky sense of humor and writing), C.dog.e.dog wrote as a comment here:

I looked on the NH Repub Party site and found no position posts regarding the gas tax. You’d think it would deserve at least a mention given it’s the largest tax to feed the maw of New Hamster in some time.

– C. dog bark ravin’ mad

My opinion is that he is wrong; he isn’t raving mad, just mad at a Party that says it is for lower taxes (and indeed, it has the potential to be the biggest “broad based” tax in many a year) but has said NOTHING. I fear that there are many others out there that are waiting to see what the Smaller Government / Larger Citizen Party is doing about this situation and are thinking to themselves “And?”  Why is there silence – especially as the NH GOP has come out against other taxes introduced, promoted, voted on, and passed by Democrats?

Where is the Consistency?

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