Taxes Archives - Page 9 of 62

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How School Funding Works (Part 3, EFAs, Tuitioning, Special Needs)

August 26, 2024 Ian Underwood

After looking at [Part 1] and [Part 2], we can consider a third case, where the kid who takes the EFA comes from a district that would be tuitioning him to a school outside the district, because the district doesn’t offer the grade that he’s in. For example, suppose each district pays $15,000 to tuition … Read more

How school funding works (Part 2, EFAs)

August 25, 2024August 25, 2024 Ian Underwood

Okay, so given what we saw in Part 1, let’s consider what happens when a student leaves each of the two districts to open an Education Freedom Account (EFA). In District 1, what changes? Things that change are highlighted below: Before After Taxpayers 1000 1000 Students 100 99 Budget $2M $2M Adequacy $400,000 $396,000 … Read more

classroom empty desks original Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay

How School Funding Works (Part 1)

August 24, 2024 Ian Underwood

One of the things that allows so much nonsense to be bandied about when discussing school funding is that almost no one — including legislators, judges, and DoE officials — seems to understand how SWEPT (Statewide education property taxes) and adequacy grants are related. In what follows, I’ll use nice round numbers that approximate but … Read more

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Just Like The Burgess Biomass Boondoggle, I have little regard for NE Planned Parenthood

August 11, 2024 Skip

OK, I admit, I “stole” part of Steve’s post because I loved the alliteration (“Bradley’s Burgess Biomass Boondoggle is Back in the News“). If you remember, the Burgess wood chip electricity generation plant went bust when the NH Government taxpayer subsidies were finally denied to it. Frankly, with the caterwauling from NE Planned Parenthood that … Read more

EV Fees Should Go to Road Maintenance and Repair

August 8, 2024 Rob Roper

The recent—and unfortunately more regular—flooding Vermont has experienced since last summer has damaged a lot of infrastructure, but the impact on our roads due to washouts is a big one—and an expensive one for the state and local municipalities. This raises a critical question of where the money is going to come from to fix … Read more

How About a Legislators Tax?

August 7, 2024 Steve MacDonald

Bureaucracies don’t bloat themselves, so the more progressive locales across the increasingly fruitless plain like to spend other people’s money with such abandon that they are always looking for new things to tax, like the rain. It happens to be raining where I am, and as I write this. It is unlike what they’ve seen … Read more

“Seniors Shouldn’t Pay Tax on Social Security”

August 4, 2024 Op-Ed

Former President Donald Trump recently suggested repealing income tax on Social Security benefits. Is it pandering, or is it an idea with merit? Trump wrote on Truth Social, “SENIORS SHOULD NOT PAY TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY!” Whether you think paying income tax on Social Security is appropriate or not, what actually happens? The government levies … Read more

What Tar and Feather Situation Have You Gotten Us Into?

August 3, 2024 Rob Roper

If you are a rank-and-file Democrat in the Vermont House of Representatives – a soldier in the Supermajority – you are told by Party leadership how to vote. The majority leader will, in fact, hold up a paper sign, Yes or No, informing you how to cast your ballot on key issues. And you better … Read more

The Boldest Tax-Reform Proposal In A Century

July 27, 2024 Op-Ed

Former President Donald Trump continues running the most issue-focused campaign our nation has ever seen. You would not know it if you followed only the mainstream media echo chambers, but the truth is that our 45th president has been rolling out a detailed and bold policy agenda for over a year. His recent focus has … Read more

Who Will Save Us from Crippling Education Taxes? Not This Crowd!

July 21, 2024 Rob Roper

The Democrat/Progressive supermajorities that voted to override Governor Scott’s vetoes of laws that resulted in the massive property tax bills most Vermonters are receiving this month are now spinning the line that they did the responsible – nay courageous — thing by kicking the can down the road and appointing yet another panel of (mostly) … Read more

Granite State Taxpayers, What a Misnomer!

July 20, 2024July 20, 2024 Julie Smith

Like many other groups that want you to think that they have the best interest of your liberty and your wallet at heart, Granite State Taxpayers (GST) releases a scorecard, and the 2024 report is in! Of the 67 reps they’re honoring with so-called “perfect scores,” 25 of them voted for the RTK tax(HB 1002). … Read more

A Cautionary Note to New Hampshire Municipalities To Avoid Tax Credit Schemes

July 13, 2024 Laura Colquhoun

Nashua City officials partnered with Mascoma Bank to accept New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) federal money, providing tax credits to private businesses to provide additional funding to construct our Performing Arts Center.

What “Paying Just a Little More” Really Means

July 8, 2024 Rob Roper

Vermonters who don’t pay close attention to politics may have been surprised this month (July 2024) to find their paychecks a little lighter than expected, the result of a new payroll tax passed into law last year (Act 76).

No, a 14% Property Tax Increase is Not a Decrease.

July 5, 2024 Rob Roper

If you thought the biggest, most brazen political lie from this past week was “Joe Biden is sharp as a tack,” you would be wrong. That prize has to go to Vermont state Representative Mike Mrowicki (D-Putney), who said in an op-ed that he and the Democrat/Progressive supermajority “…lowered property tax rates — with a yield bill that’s fiscally responsible.”

Blame Mayor Donchess and his Board of Aldermen

June 29, 2024 Laura Colquhoun

Every Nashua resident better start saving some extra money to pay for the 7.2% increase in property taxes. Mayor Donchess is stating that they only went up 3.7% when in fact that is a bold-faced lie. Property taxes will be going up 7.29% in December 2024. Residents do not have to believe me, just look at the current budget and compare it to FY2024 Budget.

HB1002 and Transparency: If You Want Less of Something, Tax It!

May 8, 2024 Steve MacDonald

In keeping with my taxing things theme, this might be a good time to remind everyone, especially Republicans in the NH Legislature, that those among them who supported HB1002 (The public documents tax) can no longer argue for government transparency or accountability. They voted that right away.

Massachusetts Proposes a New Tax to Fund ‘Affordable’ Housing

May 8, 2024 Steve MacDonald

This might be a great Town Hall forum question for Democratic candidates. “Is there any problem you can’t fix with a new or higher tax?” I want a list, please, but I sense it would look like that redacted FDA document—a bunch of blank pages. While true, Dems do believe this; they don’t want to admit it publicly.

Taxes crushing vermont original Photo by Chris Andrawes on Unsplash

Property ‘Tax Relief’ Means Property Taxes Will Go Up But Less Than They’d Like

April 28, 2024 Steve MacDonald

Democrats in Vermont are like Democrats in New Hampshire, New York, California, and the District of Catastrophe (DC). There’s no such thing as too much spending or too much taxation but for sh! ts and giggles, they like to call it things like tax relief. As in, we’d like to relieve you of more of your income with more taxes.

More Independent Schools and More Choice Are the Property Tax Solution

April 28, 2024 Rob Roper

Vermont taxpayers are desperate for relief, especially in regard to funding public education. The only way to provide that relief is to return spending levels on Pre-K to 12^th to something resembling normal pre-Covid levels.

Subsidies for Me, But Not for Thee

April 24, 2024 Ian Underwood

A recent post argued that NH taxpayers shouldn’t be ‘forced to fund irreversible surgeries for gender-confused kids.’

While I agree with that, I would note that Article 3 of the state constitution says that NH taxpayers can’t be forced to fund anything that doesn’t directly protect the rights of the people paying the taxes.