Articles tagged as

Taxes

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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Open Letter to Republican Members of the New Hampshire House

Emailed to the entire caucus, Wednesday Morning, 2-27-2013

Honorable Republican Representatives,


In the wake of the errant email in which NH Gas tax sponsor David Campbell (D-Nashua) reveals the true nature of his proposal, I wanted to take a moment to offer up some relevant observations.

Mr. Campbell remarked that his gas tax will provide a bounty (I’m paraphrasing) of revenue (taxation) for other purposes.  It matters not whether he was being glib or just honest.  The facts are these.

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A Letter sent to NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn, based on her HB617 Press Release

I wondered what Jennifer Horn would do as I wrote this; now we know – the non-silent silent answer.  She did not “Choose Well”.  The Press Release, which went out this morning, is after the jump.  This is my Letter just sent:

Dear Jennifer (NH GOP Chair),

Right you are concerning the proposed gas – this should never have made it out of committee with a single Republican vote.

And that’s the problem – it got every single one of them.  All of the Republicans on the committee, every one, voted for it; not a single Nay vote amongst them.  In other words, they have turned your words below into hollow ones with their votes – that presser is of no importance at all as every single elected Republican just cut you off at the knees.  Wait until NH Democrat Chair Buckley sends out his PR about “But Jennifer, all of YOUR Republicans sided with the Democrat Leadership and Maggie Hassan – doesn’t that put you on the wrong side of the issue?”.  I see no comeback – your Party members have done just that from a perception standpoint – and voters will see that.

Your press release does make you look rather blinkered for ignoring the very Republicans that put you into such a position – a very foolish one.  Castigating the Democrats while ignoring the bad behavior of your own Republicans – including the Minority House Leader?  Not good at all and badly played.

Unfortunately, this PR blurb does not “thread the needle” that was necessary – you’ve now given more Republicans cover by not mentioning these chuckleheads at all.  You have now given out the message “S’all right, vote for more expensive and bigger government – I’ll just ignore your part in it“.  Again, how is this perception going to help in recruiting more voters to the Republican Party?

Yes, Jennifer, my answer would have been:

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Democrats Always Lie About Taxes and Spending

Democrats lie about taxes, spending, and caring about the middle class, and two opportunities to prove that have recently NH Democrats fleece taxpayers againpresented themselves.

First, Nashua Democrat David Campbell, from whose progressive womb sprang the 15 cent per gallon gas tax, recently remarked in an email to Democrat party leadership that the Democrat gas tax was…

…”the gift that keeps on giving”

…

“As my father used to say, ‘Don’t spend it all in one place!” Rep. David Campbell, D-Nashua, chairman of the House Public Works and Highways Committee, wrote on Friday in explaining that his gas tax hike bill will generate “bonus monies” for purposes not directly associated with highways, roads and bridges.

Not directly associated is right.

The gas tax will screw you, your family, your small business, and the entire  state economy out of millions more annually once fully implemented, money that will not go to wages, jobs, or anything but the Democrats government-first addiction.

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Guest Post – NH State Rep Jane Cormier “Just a FEW of the MANY Taxes We Pay…”

FEDERAL     STATE of NH    
  Income Tax     Property Tax:  
  Corporate Income Tax       Town Property
  Social Security       Town School Education
  Medicaid       State Education
  Capital Gains       County
  Marriage Tax Penalty     Inheritance & Estate  
  Workers Compensation     Business Profit  
        Meal & Rental Tax  
        Electric Consumption Tax  
        Meals & Rental Tax  
        Real Estate Transfer  
        (And there are many more….)  

“The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” Vladimir Lenin

On February 6, the NH House of Representatives voted on CACR 1, a bill which would have allowed citizens to vote on this constitutional amendment. CACR 1 basically declared a 3/5 majority vote in the NH House would be necessary to pass any legislation imposing new or increased taxes or license fees on the citizenry or to authorize the issuance of state bonds. (Might it be, if we shut down the spigot for a while, the “powers that be” may actually have to budget in a fiscally sound manner as do so many of NH citizens? Might the “powers that be” actually need to seek consensus before forcing citizens to pay increased fees or taxes that THEY deem appropriate? Might it be, if we have to have a majority vote before raising taxes or fees, the budgeting may be more transparent and streamlined?) Of course, the answer is yes to all those questions. Unfortunately, many of our state representatives did not agree. CACR 1 was voted Inexpedient to Legislate (which just means “kill the bill”) by a vote of 206 to 149.

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Report Claims: Manchester NH one of Ten Least Taxed Cities in US

There is a good deal of couched language in this article, but a few things stand out. According to Edward Wyatt, fiscal analyst for the Office of Revenue Analysis, while tax rates are certainly a factor in the tax burden on families, it is more the existence of certain kinds of taxes that determines whether … Read more

Data Point – Do Americans want more taxes or want more spending cuts?

Obama is saying that a majority of Americans want his approach to cutting the deficit: balanced.  Problem is, he already got a boatload of new taxes and is already looking for more.  Balanced: just like his use of the word “investment” means “spending more tax money”, his use of the word “balanced” means “more money … Read more

About Merrimack’s Town Tax Rate

Town of Merrimack NHMore than a few folks in Merrimack probably had heart attacks when they saw the front page article “Council OKs 23.5 million budget” in the Merrimack Telegraph Journal.  In the second paragraph, right below the front page fold, it claimed this new budget would mean a  $5.25 increase per $1000.00 of assessed value.

That would be an increase of approximately $1,312.00 per year for a home valued at $250,000.00 and a new town rate of $10.50/1000 –the sorts of numbers typically reserved  as the low end of a school budget that still can’t manage to teach math adequately.

Those are torch and pitchfork numbers.

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Notable Quote – Democrats Are A Spending And A Revenue Problem

“Ask a democrat and they will tell you “we have a revenue problem.”  But the only reason you could ever have a revenue problem is if you first have a spending problem.   But if you have elected Democrats, you will always have a spending problem.   And you will always have a spending problem because … Read more

Adventures in Babysitting

J.Robert Smith has a good article at American Thinker on Republicans taking back the tax issue, and that is certainly true,  but there were two things in particular that stood out to me… First, the current US tax code consists of almost 74,000 pages.  (What the…) Second, on one of those pages can be found this. (paragraphs appear here in … Read more

Where Shawn Millerick beclowns himself – again.

Jethro BodineIt is clear that the Editor of NH Journal doesn’t like this bastion of Conservative / Libertarian news and commentary, given that his veins run blue with Establishment Old Guard and all.  After all, we’re just a bunch of ordinary schlubs here at GraniteGrok, bitter clingers to our guns, Bibles, and Conservative / Libertarian viewpoints – we’re just those icky types of folks who, unbelievably, actually have a core set of beliefs.

I guess that from his high perchdom of full time Editor and political operativeness, we don’t matter.  Yet, there must be SOMETHING that we’re doing right because he decided to send a rather sneering email to me:

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It’s Only a 25% Increase, Who Cares?

By  vote of 186 to 165 the Democrat controlled New Hampshire House passed a 25% increase in New Hampshire’s fuel oil tax.  As numbers go the tax itself is not a large number, but the sum it extracts from the state economy–on the backs of families and business owners who will end up paying it–is.  … Read more

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