Most New Hampshire progressives believe that an income tax is the only realistic way to provide for educational equality, property tax relief for lower-income and elderly homeowners, and the restoration of human services to at least the meager levels that existed before major cuts initiated during the Great Recession of 2008 to 2012. Local property taxes, which fund 72 percent of our education system, are cruelly regressive, and the gross inequalities they perpetrate damage all aspects of our economic and civic life.
Liberals lament that when Jeanne Shaheen was governor, with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, she failed to champion an income tax bill when they had the votes. Most look forward to a time when Democrats will again lay claim to the executive and legislative branches, with a governor who disavows “the pledge” that avoids any debate on the issue.
This is unlikely to happen, even though our much-heralded “New Hampshire Advantage” is fast losing whatever rational currency it once enjoyed. Young professionals and skilled workers continue to depart, and businesses opt not to invest in towns with high taxes and poorly funded schools, leaving our state with a steadily aging population and a tax structure that provides among the lowest funding for our schools, despite our relative wealth as a state. Mississippi puts us to shame. Still “the pledge” persists, leaving our politics like a hobbled horse, tripping over itself, unable to move beyond a few small steps.
I believe that the route to reasonable and equitable state income tax does not run through the ballot box. At least not yet. First we have to make new allies the old-fashioned way: We have to earn them.
A large percentage of our citizens who might be expected to gain much from tax reform remain steadfastly against it. They do not trust that the money raised – even if it were to come largely from upper-income brackets – would materially improve their lives. They don’t yet see an income tax helping their children and grandchildren get a fair shake from our education system, compared to kids from highly educated professional families.
They don’t yet see it improving the economies and quality of life in our small cities and rural communities. They worry that more money will be spent on “social programs” that benefit too many whom they see as “undeserving” and ignore those who work hard, pay their own way and sacrifice for their children. And they deeply resent the way that so-called “coastal elites” continue to benefit from economic growth while they are left behind, with an unspoken implication that they should blame themselves for making poor choices in life.
These hard-working, freedom-loving fellow citizens have drunk the Kool-Aid poured out by the Koch brothers, by affluent Libertarians, and by conservative talk radio, so that they are ready to vote against measures that might lift their families and their communities – just because it has been tarred with the “Big Government” label. But, despite the ideological poison they have ingested, their grievances are real. Failure to acknowledge and respond to their sense of betrayal, whether or not it is founded on valid data, will continue to deliver voters into the hands of those who profit most from social inequality, namely, the wealthy, big corporations and cynical politicians.
Progressives can continue to complain about “people consistently voting against their economic self-interest.” We can blame President Trump, Fox News, talk radio and the demons of social media for leading people astray. But unless we turn our attention toward understanding the role we all play in sustaining inequality – whether by ignoring the concerns of our working-class neighbors or failing to make sure that our schools give every child the quality of education that we demand for our own children – we will continue to find ourselves in battle against those we say we want to help.
The first step is to really listen to – not argue with – those whose distrust of government is really a distrust of “elites” and a rage against the cultural aspects of inequality, and try to view the world through the eyes of those who have seen in recent times little but stagnation and blighted future prospects for those they love.
Perhaps with their input, gained through town meetings similar to those that Andru Volinsky and John Tobin have held throughout the state on the issue of school funding, we can, in time, craft an income tax plan that can move New Hampshire forward with a new sense of what the “New Hampshire Advantage” truly means.
(Robert L. Fried of Concord is a retired educator who is now a writer, gardener and tinkerer. He can be reached by email at rob.fried@gmail.com.)