Articles tagged as

Taxes

Cat Out Of The Bag

Just what we’ve been warning people about all along. “No one likes raising revenue, and understandably so,” Hoyer said in an address at the Brookings Institution.“But if you’re going to buy, you need to pay – Steny Hoyer You think? I don’t buy the “no one likes raising revenue part,” mostly because were it true, … Read more

NEA-NH loves the ARRA

NEA New Hampshire is a-gush over the anniversary of the Stimu-less bill and they are not afraid to show it.  According to NEA-NH Insider the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)… …represents a huge win for education thanks to unprecedented funding increases targeted to local districts.  ARRA also included increases for Title I, stabilization funding, … Read more

Who Do You Trust?

CACR 26 would have allowed you to vote on whether to amend the NH Constitution.  The change would have prohibited the legislature from passing laws to creat broadbased sales or income taxes, or taxes on capital gains. The bill came out of committee as inexpedient to legislate, and the House voted to ITL it by … Read more

Another in “a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations?”

  Listening to Mark Levin’s radio program last night, I heard a guest describe the massive debt being foisted on future generations of Americans due to the current government spending spree rightly as "taxation without representation." How else would you describe what is happening? Our children and their children’s children are going to get stuck … Read more

It’s the SPENDING, stupid!

I received this email from a Left leaning person (supposedly a NH resident but I’m not totally sure; any NH person with any worth wouldn’t take such a position!) complaining that because we do not have an income tax here in NH, people are SUFFERING!  Because the State refuses to tax people more, problems will … Read more

As goes Colorado, so goes the country?

Voters Want Green… In Their Wallets Guest Post By Howard Rich As the fallout continues to settle from the 2009 elections, among the more overlooked results was a ballot issue in Boulder County, Colorado that would have extended an existing sales tax to fund the acquisition of additional “open space.” Obviously, this regional issue didn’t … Read more

Manchester: A shining beacon for the rest of the country

  Guest post by Bill Wilson Call it a conservative conundrum. Taxpayers who went to the polls last night are clearly outraged by a year filled with massive financial bailouts; the nationalization of the banking, mortgage, and auto industries; and proposed takeover of the energy and health care industries. On their way out of polling … Read more

It’s all about the SPENDING. Vote Tuesday for those who understand that…

Guest Post by State Senator Jeb Bradley  On Tuesday, October 27 the Republican Leadership in the New Hampshire House and Senate sponsored a SUMMIT ON SPENDING in Concord. There were three excellent presentations from Steve Norton of the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies, Charlie Arlinghaus of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy and … Read more

“STOP THE SPENDING” Summit Tuesday. Unlike “TAX SUMMIT” citizens will have a say

 Republicans Respond to Democrats’ “Income Tax Summit”With a Session to “Stop the Spending” OCTOBER 27 –  GRAPPONE CENTER in CONCORD ———————————————————————————————– Join fellow taxpayers from across New Hampshire as they descend onto Concord to discuss the current legislative budget spending priorities and the effects on our local taxes. WHEN: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 8:30 … Read more

Sen Bradley: “The rush of new spending and rash of higher taxes may well be eroding our competitive position before our eyes”

  

Guest Post by State Sen. Jeb Bradley 

Last week’s TAX SUMMIT organized by Representative Susan Almy reaffirmed that New Hampshire’s lack of a general income or sales tax has enhanced our competitive position compared to other states. But the SUMMIT also warned that business taxes are too high and may be hurting our ability to attract high tech jobs to the state.

Unfortunately the TAX SUMMIT focused exclusively on taxes with nary a question raised by the organizers about the other half of the equation — state spending. This isn’t surprising however, given that spending has increased from $9.36 billion to $11.49 over two budgets — a startling increase of 23%! And this is happening at a time when state spending around the nation has decreased over the last two years.

Nevertheless the SUMMIT was instructive. To her credit, Almy, an income tax supporter, insured that witnesses represented a wide variety of viewpoints including opposition to an income or sales tax.

Naturally several speakers supported adopting a sales or income tax. Jeff McLynch of the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy argued for an income tax based primarily on the need for additional revenue and equity. Laurel Redden of the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition argued for unspecified new taxes to mitigate rising property taxes.   No one likes the property tax and most people believe the fairest tax of all is the tax someone else pays! If our tax system is so unfair – why does NH continually rank at or near the top of nationwide surveys that rank states’ livability conditions?

Two of the most compelling witnesses drew clear distinctions between New Hampshire’s tax policy and those of other states. Scott Hodge, President of the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, stated that most states garner the majority of their revenue through general income taxes, sales taxes and business income taxes which he termed a “three legged stool.” Without either tax, New Hampshire relies heavily on an 8.5% business profits taxes and a .75% payroll tax paid by employers. Hodge warned that enacting an income tax would be a “huge mistake.” He made the emphatic point that “states that are in the biggest financial trouble are the three legged stool states such as New York, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Connecticut.”

 

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A Little Good News, Some Mixed News But Even More Bad News in Concord

Guest Post by State Senator Jeb Bradley 

The recent release of New Hampshire’s revenue receipts simultaneously offers glimmers of hope while raising even more concerns about the State Budget enacted in June.

First the good news: The “Rainy Day Fund” which is the State’s hedge against economic downturns ended the fiscal year with $56 million more of a cushion than anticipated. Governor Lynch froze new hiring, deferred equipment purchases, and curtailed out of state travel to produce these savings. 

Despite the fact that Governor Lynch and Democratic Legislators approved an overall spending increase in 2007 of 11.17% and in 2009 of 10.48%, the Governor’s executive orders curbed the worst excesses of the Legislature’s spending blitz that has increased expenditures from $9.36 billion to $11.5 billion during that time.

This $56 million in the Rainy Day Fund will be a critical one-time buffer if the State loses its NH Supreme Court appeal of the JUA (Joint Underwriting Association) lawsuit. This lawsuit comes from a budget provision attempting to simply “take” $110 million from a fund designed to keep a lid on physician’s medical liability insurance costs. The State’s attempted money grab has already been ruled in violation of both the State and Federal Constitutions by the Superior Court.

The mixed news is that business tax revenues were only 4% lower than expectations. While it is preposterous to call any shortfall good news, in comparison to last year’s business tax receipts that were off by 25%, being 4% below expectations is a slim glimmer of hope. However, it’s also a warning that if the trend continues the State will face a nasty budget deficit.

Despite the good and the mixed news, NH is far from out of the budget woe woods as the bad news dwarfs the good. Other revenue sources are badly underperforming, despite many taxes being increased in the budget. Receipts from the rooms and meals tax, communication tax, and real estate tax are all down by about 9%. The interest and dividend tax is down a whopping 25%. Even tobacco taxes are down slightly.  In the three months since the budget was enacted revenues are down a total of $26 million or 6.4%. Should this trend continue the deficit will only grow.

Now that the state employees union has rejected the proposed contract that would have implemented 19 furlough days, Governor Lynch must begin a series of layoffs to save a mandated $25 million. Whether he will run into roadblocks if the union files a grievance for each position eliminated or political roadblocks from his allies in the Legislature – these savings may be questionable. 

So with all these budget monkey wrenches, it is certainly understandable that its authors are quick to claim that the national economy is to blame and that revenues are likely to rebound when the economy turns around. But that is a cavalier attitude based on wishful thinking rather than rational evidence.

 

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The Road to an Income Tax in NH

Guest Post by Rep. David Hess Years from now if the citizens of New Hampshire are seeing income taxes taken out of their paychecks, they will be able look back to the week of October 19, 2009 in “tax history” as the turning point—a time when the foundation for a broad based tax was laid.  … Read more

Obama’s great middle class betrayal: It’s the taxes, stupid!

 Obama taxes middle class

Guest Post by Howard Rich 

As much as the Beltway chattering class refuses to admit it, Barack Obama’s electoral victory last year had nothing to do with his oft-repeated, generic pledge to bring “hope and change” to Washington, D.C. Sure it sounded good at the time, but Americans have always voted based on their wallets and pocketbooks – not lofty-sounding campaign promises or rhetorical flourishes.

The real key to Obama’s victory a year ago – indeed his “signature” issue – was his promise not to raise taxes on the middle class.

“You will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime,” Obama promised tens of millions of Americans making $250,000 or less. In fact, candidate Obama promised the middle class billions of dollars in tax cuts, part of his whole “spread the wealth around” plan.

“If you’re a family that’s making $250,000 a year or less, you will see no increase in your taxes,” Obama promised. “Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your personal gains tax, not any of your taxes.”

Never mind the fact that Obama’s plan would have hit income and payroll providers especially hard, rendering “middle class tax relief” irrelevant to the millions of workers heading toward already-crowded unemployment lines.

No matter how you look at it, though, what a difference a year makes.

 

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Report: Democrat Health Plan to Cost NH Businesses Hundreds of Millions

  STEWARD STUDY: HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL PLANS INCLUDE HIDDEN COSTS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE’S BUSINESS COMMUNITY Economists’ Report Tells Granite State Businesses to Brace for Hundreds of Millions in New Taxes CONCORD, NH – New Hampshire businesses would have to pay as much as $229 million to comply with Democrat plans to overhaul America’s health care … Read more

Outside Interests Interfering in Manchester Tax Cap Process

So says Andy Demers:  MANCHESTER, N.H. – New Hampshire Citizens for Sensible Legislation today strongly condemned the actions of the progressive group Keep Manchester Moving and its spokeswoman Zandra Rice Hawkins, who is tryingevery political trick in the book to thwart the will of the people in Manchester. Leading up to the November 2008 election, … Read more

A warning to New Hampshire

  Just in from Paul Jacobs, who notes in the latest edition of Common Sense: Connecticut used to be one of the go-to places for escaping state income taxes. But in 1991, Governor Lowell Weicker hatched the novel idea of burdening Connecticut residents with the same direct tax on income with which Americans have been saddled … Read more

Add a new book to the shelf…

Leslie Carbone’s book, Slaying Leviathan: The Moral Case for Tax Reform has just been released. In Slaying Leviathan, Carbone argues that since the early twentieth century, U.S. tax policy has been designed to mitigate the natural economic results of both virtue and vice. When the government disrupts the natural order through taxation by creating incentives … Read more

Denial. Isn’t that a river in Egypt?

  NH Dems "attacking" budget woes with great vigor… The NHGOP rightfully pans the great "leadership" we are witnessing by Gov Do-Nuthin’ Lynch and his fellow majority Democrats: CONCORD – Six days after a Superior Court ruling blocked the attempted theft of $110 million from the New Hampshire Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association (JUA), Governor John … Read more

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