The budget passed by this legislature veers dangerously away from historic New Hampshire budgetary restraint.  With alarm, I thought of personal lessons learned during a few short years away from New Hampshire, embodied in one example from this budget.  

We left New Hampshire several years ago for North Carolina, and the income tax impact painfully surprised us.  A lack of vision and understanding led to two years of financial difficulties as our family adjusted and our income increased.  That short-sightedness did not lead to opportunity.

Now back in New Hampshire, I can’t help but notice our current legislature vigorously pursuing a path, similarly lacking vision and understanding.  The terminology for it is decorative (a fee), high minded (affordable FMLA funding), and compassionate (expanded protection for families). This flowery reimagining by Democratic lawmakers, including our own Ken Wells and David Karrick, is strictly wordsmithing.  This is the insidious beginning of a State Income Tax.

The argument will be that the 0.5% fee can be absorbed by New Hampshire families.  The real question is whether we should have to absorb it. Do the research on income tax rates.  Once the door is opened, for whatever reason or necessity, it will never be shut again. It will become the panacea for all that ills the state coffers and is extortion of our hard-earned money.  Governor Sununu needs to veto any bill with a disguised income tax. Legislators voting for one, regardless of its name or reason, should receive a harsh rebuke at the ballot box.

Steven Bowers
Andover-Danbury Republicans