Advocating for fairer taxes
In the upcoming town meeting March 10, Grantham residents will have the opportunity to vote on a warrant article that gets to the root cause of ever-increasing property taxes. For decades, the state legislature has been shifting costs that the state should be covering to local communities. This includes the costs of public education (as demanded by recent court decisions), and costs for healthcare, county nursing homes, public safety, and local infrastructure. Our state elected officials, having proudly cut taxes on the wealthy and large corporations, now complain they don’t have the revenue to support essential services. It’s state cost-shifting, not runaway local spending, that drives up property taxes: local communities are stuck with the bills the state refuses to pay. The result is an upside-down tax structure where the poorest Granite Staters bear a tax burden three times higher than those in the highest income bracket. Middle-income Granite Staters pay twice as much as high-income residents.
The warrant article demands that the NH legislature “protect local taxpayers by adequately funding essential services and preventing policies that shift costs onto local property taxpayers.” It’s time to send a message to those we elect to represent us that NH needs a saner, fairer tax system!