by Ed Naile
As you may know, The Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers collects the anti-broad-based tax pledge simply known as – THE PLEDGE.
We have been collecting The Pledge from candidates since 2000. Luckily, no direct vote on a sales or income tax has appeared in that time.
As a taxpayer activist since 1988 I pay attention to the support of sales or income taxes from the general public and the groups we work with.
It wasn’t that long ago, early 90’s, that you might hear someone at a meeting or public forum bring up broad based taxes as a solution for NH’s budget problems.
Not for a long time have I had to dispel that option as bad for ‘The New Hampshire Advantage.’
The aversion to a sales or income tax by the voters in this state is as strong as ever.
This bill HB 628 however worded or intended does look like an unnecessary step in the direction of creating a pathway to an income tax – when no reason exists for NH to get involved in the deduction of anything from a NH citizen’s paycheck.
It wasn’t long ago the Democrats left NH with an $800 million deficit that was supposed to lock in a broad based tax to solve. Heroic efforts by a Republican Legislature stopped that in its tracks. Let’s not have another example of what could sneak a payroll tax in our State.
We are not now calling HB 628 an ‘income tax’ but we are going to let our activists and contacts know this bill should not proceed any further.
The Coalition of NH Taxpayers hopes for your support in this effort.