Stop blaming Democrats for property taxes
Sen. Dan Innis blames Democrats for rising property taxes in his July 22 op-ed. One question: which party do I belong to?
He can’t answer that. Selectmen, school boards and budget committees in New Hampshire are elected on nonpartisan ballots — no party label, ever. Blaming “Democrats” for local budgets insults every official, Republican and Democrat, trying to run a budget on a shoestring.
We’re not inflating anything. From 1970 to 2009, the state shared $25 million a year with towns to offset lost local tax base. That aid was suspended in 2010, and last year Concord made it permanent, repealing revenue sharing outright. Add the state’s 35% pension-cost share, cut to zero by 2013, and you have 15 years of the state quietly handing its bills to towns — decisions made by a Republican trifecta, not by selectmen here.
Meanwhile, lawmakers cut business taxes by up to $1.17 billion since 2016 while signing “no new taxes” pledges. Nobody voted on a new tax to cover that gap; it just showed up on your property tax bill.
Even Innis’s fix proves the point. He says Republicans capped “the Democrats’ municipal spending.” Read House Bill 1300: the caps apply only to school district and SAU budgets — the same nonpartisan school boards he’s blaming.
I’m tired of the finger-pointing too, Senator. The fix isn’t a cap on nonpartisan officials — it’s restoring the aid Concord spent 15 years cutting.