Tax Revolt in New Hampshire? Taxes Going Up or Down?

By Jim on November 30th, 2008

Well there are two contradictory stories in today’s Union Leader. One focuses on talk of a tax revolt happening in New Hampshire and the other talks of politicians in Concord salivating over possible new taxes on everything under the sun.

From the tax revolt article:

Hard times are spurring tax revolts in New Hampshire.

Ed Naile of Deering chairs the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers, advising local groups hoping to institute first-ever budget committees, kill construction bonds or run slates of candidates for selectmen or school board.

“We’re not a political party, but I can tell you a lot of people are asking us about running for office,” Naile said. “I think you’re going to see all but the best of the major spending proposals get shot down at March meetings.”

Taxpayers are working to impose spending caps in Manchester and Concord next year, modeled on one that gained a 70-30 majority at the polls this month in Rochester.

Fred Leonard of the Rochester Taxpayers Association said the movement was spawned last April, the day the city manager proposed a $3.99 hike in the city tax rate.

Volunteers needed 796 signatures for a petition to put a cap on the general election ballot. They obtained 1,775 names.

From the give-us-more-of-your-money-now article:

When the Legislature starts work in January, it will tackle bills to add or increase all sorts of taxes. Lawmakers have filed a dozen tax bills so far on gasoline, tobacco, bottles, beer, income (three of those), even fireworks.

One resurrects the Legacy and Succession tax (better known as the death tax) that produced $25 million a year before it was repealed in 2002.

Safety Commissioner John Barthelmes told lawmakers he’d like several bills to bump up a couple of fees his agency collects.

Want to register your boat? Get ready to dig deeper to help the navigation safety fund that covers enforcement of boating speed limits.

Barthelmes would help the state academy for firefighters with a higher fee on companies and lawyers who want access to motor vehicle records.

Four gambling bills are also in the hopper, two of them authorizing a North Country casino. Historically, the House has rebuffed any expansion of legal gambling. But this economic downturn is itself historic.

Estimates are that the state might have to find itself as much as $400 million more in the next two years than it spent in the current two-year budget.

So which one is right? Both probably. I have no doubt that the politicians in Concord are desperately searching for every penny they can possibly find everywhere they can find it. But they better watch it because taxpayers are also struggling and are probably in no mood to pay higher taxes because the politicians in Concord refuse to cut spending.

I think this is going to be a very nasty situation as nobody wants to pay more in taxes but the politicians will try to avoid making the appropriate spending cuts. Raising any kind of tax in this economy is a great way to discourage economic activity by people and hurt the economy even more. I wonder if the politicians in Concord understand that though?

The casino thing seems like it might have a lot more momentum this time around. I see nothing wrong with it as long as its done in a very controlled way. I don’t want slot machines at the supermarket or anything like that. But gambling facilities at a few places in New Hampshire might work out very well for the state and for the citizens of New Hampshire.

People are going to gamble anyway so let them have a wider range of games to play at the appropriate kind of facilities. And if New Hampshire is smart we’ll do it before Massachusetts finally does.

Yep, this is shaping up to be a very interesting year in the legislature and in local politics for sure.