(The Center Square) — New Hampshire is known for its resistance to taxes, but the state’s Republican leaders want to enshrine that dictum with a constitutional amendment to outlaw income taxes.
A group of Republicans re-filed a proposal this week that would ask New Hampshire voters to permanently bar the state from setting income, sales or capital gains tax. The state currently has no income, sales, or capital gains tax, but backers say the move is needed to prevent future efforts to impose them.
More than 100 people showed up on Wednesday for a hearing on the proposal before the House Ways and Means Committee, where Republicans argued that the issue should go before the voters.
“What are we afraid of? The people who elected us, they are the bosses, they are the ones who sent us here,” House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, said in remarks. “By God, let the people make the decision of whether they want an income tax or not. Let them make the decision.”
House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson said she and other top Democrats oppose income taxes but criticized the proposed amendment as a “stunt” by Republicans to drum up votes ahead of the midterm elections.
“This is just a stunt that Republicans are putting together because they have failed to solve the affordability crisis,” she said in remarks Wednesday. “The House Democrats have been working on solutions to help families deal with affordability and an income tax has no part of that plan — period.”
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte threw her support behind the proposal on Wednesday, releasing a statement vowing to oppose any effort to set an income tax.
“New Hampshire is a beacon of freedom and opportunity because we’ve held the line against an income tax,” she said. “A constitutional amendment to make it permanent ensures our state won’t go the way of Massachusetts. No income tax — not now, not ever!”
A similar proposal to outlaw the income tax failed to get the required 60% vote in the House, with Democrats dismissing it as a ‘political stunt’ after voting in unison to reject the legislation.
In March, a group of Democratic lawmakers filed a bill that would impose a 3% flat income tax and a statewide property tax to raise an estimated $1 billion a year for public schools. They said the move would ease the pressure on local governments to increase property taxes and provide much-needed funding for public schools.
But the move was quickly swatted down by Ayotte and Republicans, who control the state Legislature. Conservative groups took to social media to ridicule Democrats for even proposing the plan in a state that has long prided itself as a haven from income taxes. It was later rejected by legislative leaders.
In the 2012 elections, New Hampshire voters approved an anti-income-tax amendment, but the referendum fell short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to amend the state Constitution.
On Tax Day, Americans for Prosperity-New Hampshire Director Sarah Scott called on state lawmakers to “recommit” to fighting any attempts to consider an income tax.
“In New Hampshire, we’ve proven that you don’t need an income tax to deliver results,” she said in a statement, citing the state’s top rankings in recent business studies. “Unfortunately, bad ideas have a way of resurfacing in Concord. Whether it’s income tax proposals, hidden fees like the battery tax, or other costly mandates, the threat to taxpayers is real and constant.”
