Silence Scream of New Hampshire Tax System… Changing the Face of the Granite State

Don’t Tax Him—Don’t Tax Me- Tax the Man Behind the Tree

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This cute snippet of New Hampshire Yankee parsimonious philosophy reflects the realities of a different Age -Space and Universe that unfortunately no longer exists in our current operating environment.

As an elected official for decades, I fought this tax battle with the Liberals whom possess an unquenchable appetite for Tax Dollars

… this has not changed or ever will

…. With unwavering zeal we saved countless millions upon millions for taxpayers that improved the sustained quality of life for lots of folks in my district

My approach is all about the numbers that then drive the programs in the school district which is the largest expense in local taxes.

…..the Dog Wags the Tail….the Tail Doesn’t Wag the Dog

..if you don’t have it…you don’t spend it!

My anti- confiscatory approach harkens back to the Apex of the New Hampshire Advantage and good friend Gov. Stephen Merrill who was one of the Granite States best Corner Office Execs. ….a gem!!

Alas that was thirty-five years ago and this is what worked then but now we need to formulate addition means to correct a socio-economic dynamic that is changing the demographics of our state.

In this Season of Joy, the Grinch came to all New Hampshire homes in the form of the local property tax bill

…..in many towns the increase quite literally took people's breath away.

Yet as stunning as these tax bills are ….those tax bills five years from now are going to further transform the very nature of what makes the Granite State the special places that it still is.

My constituents are proud, hardworking people whom have known nothing but economic adversity ….that fosters a prudent and frugal approach.

Even with this fiscally sound approach in relations to the simple math here of local taxes

……that were a generation ago 3-4% of income now for many of our elderly homeowner residents are 15-20%

….the trajectory of the expense due to the scalability of these school and town budgets are only going to increase more rapidly with each proceeding year

For my own taxes starting with the very poorly executed reassessment by our totally inept town government two years ago

….my taxes with the current bill have increased by over forty percent with this current statement

Once again doing some simple projections ….my tax bill five years from today would have effectively doubled from the pre-assessment amount

When I was seven my Papou, told me to save my $$...so that when I was old it would be the best time of my entire life and I would not have to worry about anything

Our legendary frugality exceeded his loving advice …so for me …it is a few simple clicks on my tablet for a check to come from the investment account to dispatch with this annoyance

……that manifests the failure of local government where there is a decreasing level of town services along with a woeful absence of vision by a stratified entrenched leadership class that controls everything to benefit their self-interest.

…who are now building more and more low-income housing in town that will only further increase the school district’s budget and make the taxes situation far worse

..any attempt to discuss with them developing a long-term forecasting model receives some lip service but of course is never followed up

With each passing year …New Hampshire citizens that live in a “property poor towns” are getting a little poorer and the operating environment for their businesses more challenging.

Every year at this time I hear the concern….but this year it is different as we are coming to a tipping point with our elderly residents…..who tell me in confidence their stories….these are proud people

So I am the voice here of those that cannot speak

My elderly constituents are going to sell their homes…move to elderly residences or move in with children

Some are holding on …living in their cold homes, not taking medicine or eating properly

Some ask me my opinion on Reverse Mortgages

At my monthly area meetings of local clergy I heard several stories of people whom live in their home with no central heating at all !

What is truly more stunning (to me) is the responses I hear to my concerns.

….a local town manager told me ….”they should of planned better for their retirement

….I hear the same sentiment echoed by many of the leadership class and “rich folks” in my county whom are disaffected by the silence suffering of their townsmen

You must remember our New Hampshire small towns are a microcosm of American Society where such poor behavior is not easily hidden.

One of the question I do ask these individuals….

Do you think it is right that these elderly people that have lived in town and paid taxes for decades cannot even die in the dignity in their own homes?

This makes people very uncomfortable

….they opine it is unfortunate…what can we do?

These long-lived town residents are selling out and being replaced by out of staters that use these houses as secondary homes for eventual retirement.

My local leadership class observes this as a measure of progress and an inevitability of growth-change

….people coming into the area that have more money that will improve the economy.

As an ethnic very tribal person deeply seeped in a Social Gospel their absence of empathy for their own relational families is yet another indication of the endemic pathology of the leadership class in America who is deeply invested in their narcissism

I ask my children all the time…..Why are we so different from these people?

Yet these dehumanizing transactional calculations have enormous long-term impacts on a sociological basis to these communities…that are irreversible

Unfortunately, our Tax Mindset in NH starts right in the Corner Office proceeds to the General Court and Senate in which there is a stalemate on how best to proceed.

We first need to realize and value this demographic factor which is accelerating and possesses an economic impact.

Here is a constituency that does not have lobbyists to button hole the powerful with their perspective or special interest

A Sales Tax is not the answer as it will only foster increased spending which leads to even more acceleration of the current dynamics

A basket of user taxes that reflects this state’s growing flow of visitors and nonresidents that is targeted especially to these property poor towns would be a step in the correct direct.

The recent court decision on adequate funding of education adds credence to the inequality the current tax system possesses.

More than Kicking the Can Down the Road here…the correct thing to do

…….is to with the new legislative session find the means to revise this Donor- Recipient System to some semblance of the current realities

These property poor towns need immediate relief to alleviate the human suffering that is so easy for our leadership class to close their eyes too.

…but for those of us that take our public service as an honor of the public trust and that government’s role is to sustain the greater good

….the failure of those in Concord and those in our local towns to at the very least acknowledge this crisis is an abrogation of the responsibility entrusted to them

No easy solution here for sure

……Yet the silence or worse indifference to the harm this Tax System is imposing will bear a bitter future harvest for the Granite State

Now is the time to at the very least conceive the mechanism to ameliorate this situation

What is our collective challenge here?

…a lack of creativity or intellect

..a lack of interest or humanity

…or Moral Clarity that we continue to observe from Harvard to WDC

….that is the further indication of a declining society directed by a failed leadership class

Ignoring the obvious is not the answer

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