With large increases in property taxes everyone is correct in wanting to know why and to take action to lower them. The big target is public education and I urge everyone to learn about the true reason for increased property taxes — how the State has downshifted costs continuously to towns and cities and then given huge tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest New Hampshire residents.
The New Hampshire Municipal Association has a long article (nhmunicipal.org/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/state_aid_booklet_2024.pdf ) that outlines years of this downshifting. The gist of it is whenever there was a budget to balance, the State moved its payment responsibility to towns and cities. Three big examples of downshifting are:
- The State used to pay 35 percent of retirement costs for police, teachers, and fire protectors. To balance the budget, they made it zero percent in 2010. They made a big deal out of increasing it to seven percent a few years ago.
- There is a law (RSA:31A) that requires revenue sharing. Each recent budget year the law is suspended so there is no sharing.
- With a big flair of tax cuts, they reduced revenue by doing tax breaks for corporations and phasing out the Interest and Dividends tax paid by the wealthiest residents of the state. This resulted in hundreds of millions in lost revenue that could have been used to increase the state share of education or used to reverse downshifting.
When the Legislature approved school vouchers (Education Freedom Accounts), the bill was attached to the budget and had no hearings. It moved funds from the Education trust fund used for public education (which has many accountability standards) to a program that prohibited accountability.
Each year, bills to create greater accountability and ensure eligibility are voted down and bills to expand the program are approved.
The Reaching Higher fact sheet notes:
- With the current income limit of 350 percent ($109,200 for a family of four) of the federal poverty limit, fewer than half of voucher recipients met a true measure of poverty.
- Removing income limits in other states has resulted in huge budget deficits and lack of funds for public education.
- A review of the work done by the outside firm hired to run the voucher program found that there were eligibility errors in one out of four vouchers.
- The New Hampshire Department of Education will not allow state auditors to have access for a performance audit.
This year’s bill — HR 115 — will remove all income eligibility, for a cost of $100M. The Governor’s budget plans to make $150M in spending cuts while at the same time supporting HB 115 and the cost of $100M.
School vouchers are a national issue. At the Department of Education confirmation hearing for Linda McMahon (a billionaire GOP mega-donor and former CEO of WWE, with no substantial background in education policy), Bernie Sanders warned that vouchers would create a “two-tier system” where public schools are starved of funding while wealthy families receive taxpayer subsidies for private education.
Some recent articles will give you much greater details about school vouchers in New Hampshire: IndepthNH tinyurl.com/mryufnpe and Dana Wormald tinyurl.com/hadv8rdt.
There are many bills this Legislative season that will harm local control and public education and change the way of life in New Hampshire. Many organizations track these bills and provide instructions on how to voice your opinion: Kent Street Coalition, American Friends Service Committee, New Hampshire School Fair Funding Project, and Reaching Higher New Hampshire. Pay attention and make your voice heard.
Mary Anne Broshek
Marie Nardino
Andover