A great many residents of New Hampshire would tell you that their favorite thing about living in the ‘Live Free or Die’ state is the absence of a state income tax. New Hampshire is one of only seven states that does not have an income tax. In addition to the thousands of dollars less per year that the NH government forcibly takes from its citizens, the absence of a state income tax represents the NH culture — a culture of personal liberty and limited government.
However, some authoritarian politicians want that to end. The above 12 representatives and senators have sponsored a bill that would effectively create and potentially impose a state income tax in NH.
How did they do it?
Authoritarian politicians can be quite manipulative. They are using deception that is commonly used to pass these types of bills:
1) They are not calling it an income tax. The language of the bill softens the blow of a new income tax by referring to it as ‘insurance’. They are well aware how much heat they would take if they openly called for imposing an income tax on the residents of the most libertarian state in the US.
2) They are allowing people to opt out – for now. If you are familiar with government programs, you know how easy it is to implement a ‘voluntary’ system, which is subsequently made mandatory before you could even blink.
3) The tax is only 0.5% of income – for now. If you are familiar with how taxes (especially income taxes) work, you know that they perpetually increase. (One needs only learn how much the federal income tax was at the time of the 16th amendment.) This low figure softens the blow for the people who do not pay much attention to what this bill really means.
4) In typical socialist fashion, they tug on the heartstrings of NH residents, because they know how compassionate we are. The bill mentions babies, adoptions, the sick, and the elderly. This makes it extremely difficult to oppose without appearing heartless.
The bill summary: The bill seems to establish a paid family leave insurance program. It would be funded by a 0.5% income tax that employers are to withhold from all employees who do not opt out of the program. Then, when a person experienced a ‘qualifying event’, they would be paid 60% of their salary for up to 12 weeks. The state government would hold onto all of the money in the fund. When asked why the people should entrust government with even more of our money, House Commerce Chairman Hunt dismissed the idea that government handles money poorly.
Why can’t these authoritarians just let people keep their money and choose whether to save, how much to save, and when to use their savings? Why can’t they allow people to voluntarily buy insurance plans that cover these scenarios? Why must the government involve itself in everything?
Need more reason to be suspicious? Of the three Senators who sponsored the bill, only one of them has a name that I recognize. I recognized the name because Feltes was given some sort of ‘Clinton’ award last year. Apparently, he even named his dogs after the socialist hero, FDR. This seems fitting considering how deceptive and authoritarian his bill is. A small amount of research revealed that another Senator who sponsored the bill is the vice-chair of the NH Democratic Party and is a member of the DNC. Fuller Clark was also on the ‘New Hampshire Committee to elect Barack Obama President of the United States’.
We urge you to call and email your representatives and as many other representatives as you can and urge them to vote against this bill!
*Update: 1/30/18*
The House Commerce Committee voted the bill ‘Inexpedient to Legislate’ which is good news, but does not bind the representatives to vote that way once the whole House votes on HB628. The Democrats on the committee voted that the bill ‘ought to pass with amendment’.
In light of overwhelming testimony by government officials who calculated the potential numbers of the FMLI program created by HB628 demonstrating that the program would be gravely insolvent, Democrats on the committee proposed an amendment that makes two large changes to the existing bill. House Democrats proposed to:
1) Cut the maximum amount of time a person could be paid for leave from 12 weeks to six weeks and
2) Increase the tax rate from 0.5% to 0.67%. I said weeks ago that this seemingly negligible tax rate would not remain low forever. As it turns out, the rate has seemingly increased before HB628 even reached the Senate!
*Update: 2/8/18*
The House voted 186-164 to pass the bill with the above amendment. Unless Governor Sununu vetoes this bill (or some miracle happens) New Hampshire residents should prepare to pay a 0.67% income tax. If you are an employer, prepare to withhold 0.67% of your employees’ salaries and send it to the NH government.
The last chance to defeat HB628 may be to email HouseFinanceCommittee@leg.state.nh.us and ask that they kill the bill. The House Finance Committee will have a chance to see the bill before it is sent to the Senate.
These Republicans voted in favor of the state income tax:
Bean, Philip – Rockingham 21
Bove, Martin – Rockingham 5
Cook, Allen – Rockingham 11
Crawford, Karel – Carroll 4
Dowling, Patricia – Rockingham 6
Elliott, Robert – Rockingham 8
Fields, Dennis – Belknap 4
Fothergill, John – Coos 1
Gargasz, Carolyn – Hillsborough 27
Gay, Betty – Rockingham 8
Grenier, James – Sullivan 7
Griffin, Mary – Rockingham 7
Guthrie, Joseph – Rockingham 13
Khan, Aboul – Rockingham 20
MacKay, Mariellen – Hillsborough 30
McCarthy, Michael – Hillsborough 29
McMahon, Charles – Rockingham 7
McNally, Jody – Strafford 10
Merner, Troy – Coos 7
Morrison, Sean – Rockingham 9
Nelson, Bill – Carroll 5
Proulx, Mark – Hillsborough 44
Richardson, Herbert – Coos 4
Scruton, Matthew – Strafford 12
Smith, Steven – Sullivan 11
Sterling, Franklin – Cheshire 14
Stone, Brian – Rockingham 1
Willis, Brenda – Rockingham 6
(list originally compiled by GraniteGrok.com)
Update: Due to confusion in regards to the exact tax this bill creates (income tax or payroll tax) I personally asked Richard Lavers, the deputy commissioner of the NH Dept. of Employment Security and he told me that it technically creates a payroll tax. A payroll tax is a type of an income tax, however, just like a laptop is a type of a computer.
#NHstateincometax #NHtaxes #NHDemocrats #HB628 #Insurance #FMLI #Children #Healthcare #Socialism #Taxation
