Are Democrats really to blame?
On July 15, Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed HB 1300, which will require every city and town to include a question on the November ballot to consider whether to implement a school tax cap. A New Hampshire Republican fundraising email went out the same day to celebrate the signing. It said: “HB 1300 literally puts property tax relief on the ballot. For decades, Democrats have been raising our property taxes at the municipal level with their out of control spending and giveaways to their preferred special interests. On November 3, each and every Granite State voter will have the opportunity to vote to hold the Democrats’ spending in line with inflation.”
Are Democrats really to blame for high property taxes across the whole state?
Looking at the state Deptartment of Education data for the most recent 12 years, only 10 of the 160 school districts for which full data is available have kept their per-pupil spending increase below the rate of inflation for the period (33.2%, using the Consumer Price Index cited by HB 1300). The Republican strongholds of Salem, Londonderry, Windham, Hookset and Hudson are all well above that threshold. And, interestingly, two of the ten towns below the threshold are Democratic towns: Hanover and Keene.
The NH GOP apparently wants you to believe that Democrats have somehow subverted local governance across nearly the whole state, even in towns that are dominated by Republicans. Does that seem plausible to you? Or is perhaps something else going on?