New Hampshire property taxes are high for one reason
Let’s stop pretending we don’t know why New Hampshire’s property taxes keep rising. The truth isn’t complicated or hidden — it’s just politically inconvenient.
For the past decade, the State of New Hampshire has steadily pulled funding out of education, municipal aid, retirement contributions, nursing homes and other essential services, leaving local taxpayers to make up the difference. The total cost shifted onto towns, cities, counties and school districts: $3 billion.
Over the same period, statewide local property tax collections increased by $1.28 billion, according to the Department of Revenue Administration. In other words, local governments absorbed a downshift more than twice the actual growth in property taxes — a 234% impact. Schools and municipalities worked relentlessly to offset these losses, but there simply isn’t enough room in local budgets to absorb them all.
If the state had honored its commitments, New Hampshire’s total property tax levy today would be lower than it was ten years ago. Every dollar of property tax growth over the decade exists because the state walked away from its obligations.
School districts were hit hardest, absorbing $2.1 billion. When the state cuts aid or underfunds special education, districts are legally required to fill the gap.
Municipalities absorbed $600 million, largely from retirement costs, lost aid and public safety funding. Counties absorbed another $300 million, mostly from Medicaid nursing home shortfalls.
Meanwhile, the state reports surpluses, grows the Rainy-Day Fund, and boasts of “fiscal discipline” — discipline achieved by forcing local property taxpayers to shoulder billions.
New Hampshire doesn’t need new taxes to fix this. It needs the state to stop shifting costs downhill. Real property-tax relief starts by ending the downshifting.