Republican Report - March 25, 2011

Taxes and Fees

It was very important that we delivered on the promise of no new taxes. The citizens of New Hampshire have just gone through four years under Democrat control that brought about more than 100 new or increased taxes and fees. Enough is enough. Our budget eliminates over $150 in downshifting to local property taxpayers included in the governor’s budget. We have eliminated the tax on gambling winnings; cut the tobacco tax to restore the New Hampshire Advantage and enhance cross-border sales; reduced the business profits tax for small businesses by providing protection for reasonable compensation; and included a number of fee reductions, including those on vital records licenses, marriage licenses, pet store licenses, condominium applications and rooms and meals vendors.

Go Figure

• $519M: the amount of total funds that the governor’s budget spends more than the House budget

• $318M: the amount of General Fund Spending that the governor’s budget spends more than the House budget.

• $184M: the increase over the current budget spent by the House on education grants to communities.

• 0: The amount of increased taxes, fees and downshifting in the House budget.

This was not a pleasant exercise, but to provide the essential services that we need, we had to make some difficult choices. Any claims from the Democrats that these decisions were made without forethought or without considering the impact that this would have on the people of New Hampshire is absolute nonsense.

Democrats are also objecting over the fact that Rep. Kurk has placed an amendment on to HB2 that makes it clear that when a collective bargaining agreement ends, there is no longer an agreement in place.. Democrats are trying to draw an analogy between the steps taken by Rep. Kurk to introduce a legitimate amendment and their “midnight” addition of the LLC Income Tax and “Campground” Tax onto the committee conference on the budget. The Kurk amendment is no different than any other amendment that comes out of a committee. What the Democrats did was entirely different. They presented the new taxes as part of an amendment to a committee of conference report, which by House rule, is non-amendable. Neal Kurk’s amendment to HB2 will, for the first time, give New Hampshire taxpayer a place at the bargaining table.

Over the weekend the committee whips will be in contact with you to find out where you stand on three specific bills: HB1, HB2 and CACR 6. Most importantly we need to know if you will be in attendance on both days of the session, Wednesday and Thursday. It is important to have an idea of the Republican Caucus attendance so we can determine the appropriate time to make the move to take CACR 6 off the table and vote on its passage.

CACR 6

CACR 6 failed to pass by the slimmest of margins, but we were successful in placing it on the table. There were some concerns at the time with some sections of the constitutional amendment that we feel have been corrected through an amendment that you will find in your seat pockets on Wednesday.

It will now take a 3/5 vote of those present and voting to pass legislation imposing new or increased taxes or license fees. We also must look at the bonding side as well, since the Democrats used bonding as a method of balancing their budget. If we turn just to the taxation side, we will create a problem on the bonding side. As a result, we must also use the same 3/5 to pass a new state bond, just as our municipalities must do. We have worked with the state treasurer with this because the bond council did


have some concerns about making sure that bonds were paid. The legislature must appropriate for the bond payments and, if they fail to do so, the state treasurer will be authorized to take from the “first dollar of state revenues” enough money to satisfy the bond payment. We ask your support in getting this constitutional amendment off the table so that we pass it and move it over to the Senate.

Rainy Day Fund

The House budget also starts to rebuild the deleted Rainy Day Fund, currently at just $9.3 million, to $24 million at the end of the biennium. As we promised back in January, should we exceed our projection for revenues, any extra money will be used to further replenish the Rainy Day Fund and offer additional tax relief for the people of New Hampshire.

It is unfortunate that Governor Lynch has decided to stand on the sidelines during this process and criticize the hard and difficult work that the House Finance Committee has undertaken, rather than work with them to responsibly set realistic revenue estimates and make further spending decisions. The bottom line is that Governor Lynch’s policies of personal popularity at all costs over the past six years are meeting reality and the results are all too painful

When Granite Staters wake up each morning, they worry about providing for their families. They do not worry about Governor Lynch’s approval ratings. But unfortunately that has been his primary concern for the past six years. It is a shame because a lot of this pain would not have been necessary had he made responsible choices in the first place..

Solving our difficult budget challenges is not about the Finance Committee, it is not about the Legislature, or even about Governor Lynch. This budget was written without consideration for political interests, public opinion polls, editorials, or special favors. It makes tough choices and puts people first. It is a budget that we should all be proud off and, once again, I commend those members who worked for countless hours, seven days a week to arrive at the point where we are right now.

We have a lot to discuss at our Republican caucuses next week, so I hope to see a good turnout for both days. We will be meeting promptly at 8:30 a.m. on each day.

If you have any questions whatsoever about HB1, HB2, or CACR6, please call me at anytime. When you are contacted by your committee whip this weekend, please keep in mind that they are not trying to sway your vote in any way, but merely trying to gather information for leadership so we have a good idea of where we stand when House session opens.

Please remember when you vote on Wednesday and Thursday: we were sent here to make difficult decisions. The people of this state are counting on us. This is our moment—the reason that most of us ran for state representative last fall. We are doing what is right and we are meeting our obligations to the voters who sent us here.

After looking a several key “core” Republican votes taken over the past two months, it was heartening to see that 249 of the 295 members of our caucus were with us 100% of the time. It will take that kind of effort to move this budget forward and I ask for your support.