Barbara McCormick has lived in the same house in Merrimack for over 50 years. After her mother passed away in 1984, she began making mortgage payments on the property and eventually bought out her three siblings in 2007.
She’s been paying off the mortgage with her husband ever since.
Year after year, McCormick’s property tax bill grew larger and larger. Living on a fixed income from Social Security meant she had to eat away at her savings to pay off the bills, including supplemental health insurance for her and her husband.
“You save all your life to be able to enjoy your retirement, and then all that retirement just goes toward property taxes,” she said.
McCormick, 72, applied for the elderly tax exemption last year and has saved over $1,000 on her tax bill. She said the exemption has “most definitely” been helpful, but she and many of her neighbors believe the exemption’s requirements are difficult to meet.
Citizens complained to town council about the qualifications. While increasing the exemption amount of Merrimack homes was successful, raising the asset threshold that previously prevented McCormick from qualifying was met with opposition from town leaders.
“I can’t even be bothered anymore because it was like I was talking to a wall,” she said.
Merrimack has one of the most generous elderly exemptions compared to other cities and towns, according to state data. But several other places in New Hampshire have kept exemption levels at state minimums that have not been updated since 1996.
The tax break for the elderly may be getting an upgrade: a bill introduced at the State House calls for an increase in the income and asset limits to qualify for the exemption.
What is the exemption?
The law states that a single person who earns less than $13,400 a year may qualify for an elderly tax exemption, which subtracts a portion of a resident’s home value to generate a lower tax bill. For a married couple, that limit is $20,400.
The asset limit to qualify is $35,000, which can include cars, savings, and other properties, but not the primary residence. A person must be at least 65 and have lived in New Hampshire for at least three consecutive years.
The federal poverty level in 2024 for an individual was $15,650 and $21,150 for a family of two. The median home price has grown from $119,600 in 2000 to $433,500 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Rep. Eileen Kelly, a Bradford Democrat, is the primary sponsor of House Bill 1296 along with seven co-sponsors. She said property taxes are so high that she wonders how those with low or fixed incomes could ever afford the bills.
“They’re going to hit into their savings if they have any, but at that low an income, you have to wonder how much of a savings they would have,” she said. “I think it’s important just to give some support to our older citizens who really are finding it difficult for housing here in New Hampshire.”
The bill proposes an increase to $23,300 for a single person, $35,500 for a married couple and a total of $60,900 in assets. The minimum amount that can be exempt is proposed to change from no less than $5,000 to $8,600 in any age category.
The amounts would also be adjusted yearly to reflect the consumer price index — which tracks the change in cost for goods and services and is a key indicator for inflation.
Across New Hampshire, 8,362 individuals have been granted an elderly exemption at one point or another, according to state data. The Granite State ranks behind Maine as the oldest state in the U.S., with over one in four residents being 60 years old or older. About 20,000 residents ages 65 and older are estimated to live below the poverty line, according to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.
“We don’t have a lot of people who have applied for these exemptions statewide,” Kelly said. “[The exemption is] not publicized greatly, so they don’t realize it. I think too, that with older citizens, there’s a bit of reluctance to ask for help.”
Exemptions differ from place to place
Cities and towns can change qualifications and exemption amounts, typically through town meetings or city council votes. Across the state, 37 towns and unincorporated places have not changed their elderly exemption and have granted a combined 32 exemptions since adoption. No new exemptions were granted in 2024 in those municipalities.
A majority of those towns are in northern Coos County, which has the lowest population and median state income among the counties as well as the highest median age.
An additional 44 municipalities would need to increase their amounts if the bill becomes law. The town of Newbury’s income limit for an individual is $23,000, one of the lowest in Merrimack County.
Back in 2023, Warner resident David Carle looked into finding a new town assessor and, in his research, he found that the town’s elderly tax exemption qualifications have not been updated since 2006. With the cost of living and house values exponentially rising, Carle sought to make a change.
“The fair market value of homes had just skyrocketed compared to what they were, and elderly people were not able to afford the taxes,” Carle said.
He worked to put an item on Warner’s town meeting in March to increase income and asset requirements. It passed in a unanimous vote. Now he is working with Kelly to make a statewide change.
He is most concerned about how much money is being taken off house values. Housing prices are on the rise in New Hampshire, but Carle brought up a specific example of a manufactured home in Warner that was assessed at $13,100 in 2020 and $58,000 in 2025.
With the amount exempt from houses staying stagnant regardless of changes in assessment, it means a rise in property taxes and the potential of losing one’s home. The New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness reported that the state saw a 23% increase in people over 65 who lacked housing in 2024.
“[It’s] the overall goal to keep the low-income elderly in their homes,” Carle said.
Seniors tend to hold a lot of pride and may be ashamed that they need assistance. That’s how Barbara McCormick felt, saying that her generation was raised on making their own way in the world.
McCormick retired in 2019 after working as an office manager for a manufacturing company in Nashua for 20 years. But she and her husband, who works part-time as a barber, have talked about McCormick going back to work to help keep them afloat.
“I didn’t want to go and really apply for the elderly exemption. I want to pay my own way,” she said. “It’s very difficult to, I guess, really ask for help. It’s not in our DNA.”
HB 1296 will have its first hearing on Friday. Kelly said she hopes the changes will also be well received across party lines, as costs will be nonexistent for the state.
“It seems like a small step, but for people this can help, I think it would make a pretty good difference,” Kelly said. “I think we should try to help people stay in their homes if we can.”