Who pays matters
When politicians talk about school funding, listen for the question they often avoid: Who pays?
That matters to working families, seniors trying to stay in their homes, local businesses and New Hampshire’s economy.
Nearly 70% of the revenue supporting New Hampshire public schools is raised through property taxes on local property wealth. For property-poor communities like Newport, Claremont and Charlestown that matters enormously. Every mandated special education dollar, health insurance increase and additional dollar needed to offer competitive salaries during a teacher shortage must be raised at much higher tax rates than in property wealthier towns.
The result? Put the same home in two New Hampshire communities and you can get dramatically different tax bills, sometimes approaching twice the burden, and very different educational resources for children.
That’s why saying, “State taxpayer or local taxpayer, it’s all us,” misses the point.
State funding of education spreads responsibility across New Hampshire. Local property taxes concentrate the burden within the property wealth of your town.
The New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute finds that lower- and middle-income Granite Staters pay a greater share of their incomes in state and local taxes than the highest earners, largely because of property taxes.
And this isn’t a state without resources. New Hampshire ranks seventh nationally in median household income. Yet we place enormous responsibility for funding education on local property taxpayers, hitting working families, seniors and property-poor communities particularly hard.
Who pays is a policy choice. It affects property taxes, housing, our workforce, our economy and the opportunities available to our children. The system of funding education mostly on the local tax dollar needs to change and that’s why I am voting for Dave Trumble for New Hampshire Senate, Larry Schissel, Jeff Kessler, Lisa Dahill DeBartolomoa and Tim Fitzpatrick for the New Hampshire House.