When I sat in the Plan NH conference about New Hampshire’s aging population, I didn’t think it would affect me any time soon. “Maine is the oldest state in the nation for median age,” they would say. “New Hampshire is getting closer.” In the future, they said, we might not have enough young workers to take care of the elderly.
Recently, our town voted down the school budget. Twice. The second time was a flat tax. They voted down a no increase school budget from fear that there would be a large increase the next year. My family was shocked. We have lived in Hopkinton for 17 years and it has always been a supportive, intelligent, school-centered community.
If we don’t have enough revenue to fund a good education and our state is getting older, what will we do? Other states solve this by having a sales tax: Vermont has 6%, Maine has 5.5%, and Mass has 6.25%. Vermont is required to pay 6% back to Vermont when they shop in New Hampshire!
I think the obvious choice is to get revenue from the visitors who come in droves every weekend. A sales tax would bring instant revenue to our state. Why are we holding out? I think it’s time to seriously think about ways to get more revenue to fund the schools. A small sales tax that is less than surrounding states would not prevent vacationers from coming to New Hampshire. It would fund our schools and keep our property taxes low.
BETH DERMODY
Hopkinton