News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Governor Scott gave a good inaugural speech this week echoing the voters’ call for “affordability” in the last election. “Vermonters told us – loudly and clearly,” explained Scott, “they expect us to get back on course; to spend within THEIR means; and above all else, make Vermont more affordable for them.” I think this sums it … Read more
Suppose we ask a very basic question: Under what conditions should we give tax money to, or spend tax money on, people who can afford to get along without it? We don’t give LIHEAP subsidies to people who can already afford to heat their homes. We don’t give Section 8 subsidies to people … Read more
In response to Ron Willoughby, who is concerned about school spending in Haverhill, NH (“Haverhill Taxpayers-Are you happy?”, Caledonian-Record), he and every Grafton County resident/taxpayer should be deeply concerned about spending at the Grafton County Complex. While there is a minority of Republicans who make up the County Delegation and the Executive Committee, with every … Read more
Aside from the obvious charms of the state’s natural beauty, its variety of coastline, lakes, hills, and mountains, its plentiful ice cream shops, and its abundant maple syrup, humans have created additional benefits of living here. Below are five man-made reasons to be thankful for calling the “live free or die” state home. Capt. John … Read more
As we reach the quarter-century mark in the new millennium, it’s worth looking back on what the politics of this era have done for (or, spoiler alert, “to”) Vermont. First, some important historical context: The last time Vermont Republicans had a majority in the Senate was 1996. The last time Vermont Republicans had a majority … Read more
I found this, among some others, over at Barnorama: “Taxes are like a subscription to your Country that you can’t cancel, no matter how bad the service gets.” Well, the “can’t cancel” bit is undoubtedly valid. Even if you are so low on the economic totem pole that you do not pay income taxes, except … Read more
Vermont’s largest abortion provider wants the 2025 Legislature to make up a projected $8.6 million, three-year shortfall. According to the Planned Parenthood of Northern New England Action Fund PAC 2024 candidate survey, the culprit is stingy, unsympathetic state and federal government services. “In recent years, Planned Parenthood patients’ access to care has been under attack … Read more
While the question remains to be seen if a majority of elected legislators got the message on November 5th that Vermonters want nothing to do with home heating taxes or any other fees and charges that make life in our state more unaffordable than it already is, one entity assuredly did not get the message: the … Read more
I opened this morning’s email to a group memo from former Alderman Teeboom, known locally as the author of the original cap. There’s so much to say about the cap, its history (SB 52 of 2021 and HB 1342 of 2022), and city baggage (including litigation) associated with it, but I’ll cut to the chase … Read more
A RECENT op-ed published in the Union Leader by Nashua Aldermen Tim Sennott, Tom Lopez and Melbourne Moran highlighted the need for aldermen and city leaders to rein in spending. Board members should view spending as a nonpartisan issue, recognizing the financial limitations that our citizens funding government face. While the op-ed raised important points, … Read more
Granite Staters have been celebrating another number one. No, it’s not the lowest tax burden, the safest state, or the lowest poverty level, though it consistently ranks best (or one of the best) for those. It is economic freedom, and New Hampshire is number one again—not just in the US but in all of North … Read more
New Hampshire this year slipped ahead of Texas to claim the No. 6 spot on a national index of state tax competitiveness published by the Tax Foundation. Formerly the Business Tax Climate Index, the newly redesigned 2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index combines the Tax Foundation’s indexes for corporate, individual income, sales, property, and unemployment insurance … Read more
New Hampshire is the No. 3 state in the country for outbound cigarette smuggling, resulting in a revenue windfall, concludes the latest annual report on interstate cigarette smuggling from the Tax Foundation and Mackinac Center for Public Policy. From 2007-2022, New Hampshire earned $955 million in state revenue from cigarette buyers who then smuggled their purchases to … Read more
The big question many pundits ask in the wake of the significant Republican pick-ups in the state house and senate is what they will do with their newfound numbers. Six pick-ups in the Vermont State Senate and what looks like around twenty in the house (there will be at least one contested outcome in Bennington-1 … Read more
Businesses not paying their fair share. Shrinking state revenues. A tax burden shifted from businesses to property tax payers. Those were the predictions critics have made since 2015, when New Hampshire legislators began a series of business tax cuts. Not only did those predictions fail to materialize, but the exact opposite happened. Since the rate … Read more
New Hampshire has been doing something crazy. Lowering taxes. Business taxes have systematically been reduced for years. Small. Incremental. Persistent. Drew Cline wrote a piece debunking the lies that this harmed New Hampshire somehow. The Republican Legislature also repealed the state’s only tax on income (we don’t have a traditional income tax on individual wages) … Read more
Nine years after the state began reducing business tax rates, five narratives are driving the policy discussion of those cuts. All five are false. In a new briefing paper, we debunk the five most common myths about the business tax cuts that ran from 2015-2022. Background: From 2015-2022, legislators cut the Business Profits Tax from 8.5% … Read more
On Monday, Donald Trump floated the idea that he might seek to replace the federal income tax with federal taxes on imports—also known as tariffs. This is potentially a good idea, but not for economic reasons. There is no economic reason why tariffs are any better or any worse than the income tax. A tariff, which is just a … Read more
Massachusetts’ millionaires tax makes it harder for the New England Patriots to recruit top players, former Patriots coach Bill Belichick said on Monday. Asked about the millionaires tax on The Pat McAfee show, Belichick said, “That’s Taxachusetts. They take more from you.” Because the NFL’s high pay makes most players millionaires these days, the tax implications … Read more
It’s election season, and once again, progressives are advocating higher taxes by claiming that legislators over the last decade have cut taxes for “big businesses,” “large, out-of-state corporations,” and “millionaires and billionaires.” These claims are intentionally misleading. They rely on voter ignorance about New Hampshire’s tax system to create the impression that lawmakers in recent … Read more