Scott Metzger lives
in Hopkinton.

A recent New York Times article noted that Republicans in Washington are considering closing the Medicaid loophole that allows states to increase federal matching funds by taxing hospitals a Medicaid provider tax to inflate spending.

The article rightly notes that New Hampshire, under Gov. Judd Gregg, was one of the first states to exploit the loophole as a fix for the state’s gaping budget hole at the time. Gregg, later a senator, is quoted as saying, “It was a way of the state basically gaming the federal government, for lack of a better term.”

The article goes on to note that the Medicare provider tax was openly referred to as “Mediscam” by state officials and reports that Gregg’s thoughts on the tax later changed when he was elected to the Senate and became chair of the budget committee. “At the time, I was happy to game the federal government because we were in crisis,” he said. “I always assumed it would go away. It didn’t. It continued, and became a fait accompli that has continued on and on and on,” Gregg told the Times.

As a state, here we are thirty-five years later, still trying to tape together a budget while relying on Mediscam money and liquor proceeds and slashing spending on critical resources and infrastructure.

The great irony here is that the national GOP is looking at closing this loophole to find funding to extend the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy, while our state budget has a hole because state Republicans decided to cut or eliminate taxes the past few years that also disproportionally favored the wealthy while relying on federal COVID aid to replace the resulting revenue shortfall.

To my Republican friends, I ask: After thirty-five years of scams and loopholes and the need to “live within our means,” where are your permanent solutions to put New Hampshire on solid fiscal footing for more than one budget cycle? Where are your solutions to provide funding for an adequate education and to stop downshifting costs to our communities? I have lived in New Hampshire for over forty years, and it seems like Republicans have been in charge most of that time. Where are the solutions already?

It’s time for New Hampshire voters to demand more than budget tricks and unstable revenue schemes from our elected leaders. Unlike Sen. Gregg and the Republican party as whole, we need to stop assuming this biennial budget problem will simply “go away” and start electing leaders committed to finding reliable, permanent and equitable revenue solutions for New Hampshire.