Check NHFPI’s In the Community page regularly for the latest news on tax, budget, and economic matters as well as for copies of NHFPI presentations, columns, and interviews.
Recent News
Moves to limit taxes, spending in face-off
Nashua Telegraph, Feb. 16, 2012
“Putting an inflexible cap on spending in the Constitution will not make state government more responsive to the voting public or more efficient in its use of their tax dollars,” said Jeff McLynch, executive director of the think tank. “It could end up achieving just the opposite.” Read more
Senate axes House plan to cap taxes
Concord Monitor, Feb. 16, 2012
Jeff McLynch, executive director of the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, released a statement of concern that the spending cap would lock in recession-driven spending levels. The Republican budget passed last year cut state spending by about 11 percent and made deep cuts to funding of hospitals and the state’s university system. “This would ensure the state continues to feel the effect of this recession and all future downturns long after they pass,” McLynch said. Read more
Education tax credit won’t serve the majority of us
Concord Monitor, Feb. 9, 2012
In his testimony, Jeff McLynch, executive director of the New Hampshie Fiscal Policy Institute, pointed out that a religious elementary school in New Hampshire costs roughly $5,200 per student annually, $7,700 for a secondary school. Read more
Bills May Boost Private Schools
Nashua Telegraph, Jan. 25, 2012
Jeff McLynch, head of the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, said the credits would rob cash-strapped public schools of money and have not been shown to improve student performance when implemented elsewhere. McLynch testified against the first of two bills, HB 1607, on tax credits before a House committee that has the co-authorship of House Speaker William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon. Read more
Presentations
New Hampshire’s Budget Journey
Presentation to Every Child Matters NH and YWCA NH, July 26, 2011
New Hampshire’s FY 2012-2013 Budget: Causes & Consequences
Presentation to Carroll County Democratic Committee, June 21, 2011
Financing the Expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in New Hampshire
Presentation to Children’s Health Insurance Commission, June 13, 2011
Understanding the Affordable Care Act in New Hampshire
Presentation to Jaffrey Democratic Town Committee, April 19, 2011
Interviews
Tax Cap Loopholes
New Hampshire Public Radio, The Exchange, September 27, 2011
Manchester voters get the chance this fall to amend their tax cap. Some want to exclude certain departments, saying sometimes large needs come up, and the city needs flexibility to address these. But opponents worry once you start making exceptions it’s hard to stop spending. We’ll look at that, and the experience of other cities with tax caps around the state. Listen to the complete show.
State Economies: Who’s Really in Control?
New Hampshire Public Radio, The Exchange, June 6, 2011
Governors and lawmakers always promise to create jobs, balance budgets and usher in growth. But new research shows they have less power than advertised, due to global financial markets, a depressed housing sector, and new federal regulations. We’ll explore how much states including New Hampshire can overcome these fiscal realities on their own. Listen to the complete show.
Columns and Op-Eds
NH Lawmakers Should Back Off Tax, Spending Caps Bills
Nashua Telegraph, Feb. 19, 2012
Be very wary of budget policy gimmicks
Keene Sentinel, Feb. 13, 2012
Though recent news has been positive, New Hampshire continues to face serious economic challenges two and a half years into its recovery. Read more
A supermajority vote for tax hikes would handicap NH
New Hampshire Union Leader, May 13, 2011
Cutting business taxes not good for our state
Nashua Telegraph, May 8, 2011
In conversations at coffee shops and around kitchen tables, in the pages of newspapers like this one, and in hearing rooms at the Statehouse, the version of the state budget approved by the New Hampshire House of Representatives has received a great deal of attention in recent weeks.
With good reason. By imposing nearly $490 million worth of spending cuts over the next two years, it would have significant consequences for just about anyone living, working or doing business in the Granite State. Read more.
House leaders’ budget priorities are backward
Concord Monitor, February 11, 2011
In the coming weeks and months, the governor, the Legislature and the people of New Hampshire will devote a great deal of time and energy to crafting the state budget for the next two years. While that document is often portrayed as a massive and confusing set of numbers, a listing of head counts, appropriations and caseloads, it is really something much more fundamental. At its core, it is a statement of priorities, an expression of what we value as a state, the goals we share and the means by which we intend to realize them. Read more.
Letters to the Editor
State budget hardly fits the description
New Hampshire Union Leader, Jan. 26. 2012
Jobs trend isn’t quite as good as it sounds
Concord Monitor, Dec. 21, 2011
New Hampshire isn’t spending enough to meet citizens needs
Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, April 13, 2011
Taxes don’t tell whole story about state of states
New Hampshire Union Leader, September 14, 2011
In the News
GOP puts stamp on session
Concord Monitor, June 27, 2011
With commanding majorities this year in both state legislative chambers, Republicans have made a mark. Read more.
NH lawmakers target higher education, reduce cigarette levies
Boston Globe, June 23, 2011
Facing a deficit cresting $40 million, the increasingly conservative New Hampshire Legislature yesterday slashed state funding of higher education in half while lowering cigarette levies. Billing it as a return to fiscal sanity, state Republicans trumpeted the budget’s fiscal restraint, noting that it does not boost taxes or fees. Spending by state agencies would be reduced by 11 percent, more than double the 5 percent cut Democratic Governor John Lynch recommended. The $4.42 billion spending plan passed both chambers of the Legislature by veto-proof margins; Lynch has not indicated whether he will endorse it. Read more.
Supermajority on tax hikes requirement draws warning
New Hampshire Union Leader, May 12, 2011
Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment to require a supermajority to pass increases or new taxes, fees, and bonds say it will ensure limited government now and into the future.
But the opponents of CACR 6 told the Senate Internal Affairs committee the amendment would be a disaster for state finances and leave New Hampshire in the same fiscal condition and gridlock as California. Read more.
Teachers not tickled pink
Keene Sentinel, April 6, 2011
Nearly 40 Keene teachers will be pink-slipped this month as school officials look to offset proposed cuts to state funding. Read more.
Putting government on a starvation diet
Concord Monitor, April 4, 2011
It has always been the official policy in New Hampshire to starve government to keep it small. That policy has worked. State and local taxes consume a smaller portion of the personal income of New Hampshire’s citizens than in all but one state, South Dakota. The state has been among the 10 lowest taxed states in that nation in all but two of the past 40 years, according to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. But starving government hasn’t been enough for the Republican majority in the House. It now wants to bind the feet of government as well, and hobble its ability to meet the needs of its citizens. Read more.
Q&A with NHFPI’s Jeff McLynch
New Hampshire Business Review, March 25, 2011
In December, the Concord-based New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute released a report on the state’s tax system. Coming on the heels of a November election that swept in Republican supermajorities promising spending and tax cuts, the institute’s recommendations represented an alternative perspective. Read more.
Some call for state tax system overhaul
Foster’s Daily Democrat, March 20, 2011
Lawmakers know property taxpayers are looking for relief, but in the battle to raise enough revenue to close a several hundred million dollar state budget gap, many can already anticipate who’s going to pay. Read more.
Repel attempts to downshift tax burden
Concord Monitor, December 27, 2010
The New Hampshire state budget is facing a shortfall for the next two years that’s estimated to be between $500 and $800 million. Everyone recognizes that balancing that budget will require spending cuts that will impose great hardship on thousands of residents. Yet Republicans nonetheless want to reduce or eliminate a host of taxes, which would require that even deeper cuts be made. Read more.
New Report Cuts Against the Political Grain
NHPR, December 17, 2010
A new economic report says the Legislature should consider increasing taxes to help balance the state’s deficit. Read more.
