The Truth about New Hampshire Governor John Lynch’s new “Fiscally Responsible” Budget

The truth about it is, it’s not fiscally responsible. Since when can you justify a 17.5% increase in spending coupled with taxes increases on everything from cigarettes, to car registrations, to milk?

I am still looking for the governor’s approval ratings, and I still can’t find them. Isn’t that strange? No it’s not, he’s a Democrats so we don’t see daily approval ratings when they are bad. I’m assuming they are down because we used to see them all the time when he had record highs for New Hampshire.

Here is an editorial from the New Hampshire Union Leader that hits the nail on the head:

Gov. John Lynch last week called the new state budget “fiscally responsible.” That would be the same budget that raises state spending by 17.5 percent. Which makes one wonder, how big a budget would legislators have to create before Lynch would call it fiscally irresponsible?

Lawmakers raised so many taxes and fees that we would use most of our space here just listing them all. And by the way, those new taxes and fees fell disproportionately upon the poor and lower-middle class.

The cigarette tax was raised 28 cents to $1.08 the pack. As the poor are more likely to smoke, they’ll pay the brunt of that tax hike. People will also pay more to register a vehicle, hunt wild turkey, make civil court filings (except for filings involving children, landlord/tenant disputes, domestic violence, stalking and small claims), use the telephone, do environmental testing and some land alteration. Most of those increases will hit low-income folks the hardest. But hey, the money is being confiscated by well-meaning Democrats, so that’s excusable.

Among this year’s largesse, legislators expanded subsidized health insurance to middle-class families and raised spending on other social services, dedicated $12 million to the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program and obligated the state to fund vast new public education duties.

Not all of these ideas are bad ones. But instead of seeing what the state could afford and adjusting the budget accordingly, the Democratic leadership in Concord drew up a wish list then raised taxes and fees to pay for it. That is irresponsible budgeting.

House Democrats even killed a Senate attempt to save money by allowing department heads more freedom to set their own budgets. But instead of letting commissioners have the flexibility to find budget savings, the House insisted on dictating how state dollars would be spent.

The people elected Gov. John Lynch and a Democratic legislative majority last year in a landslide partly because they believed Gov. Lynch could keep spending in check. This budget proves that he cannot. Even if Lynch’s own budget priorities were more prudent, the legislative leadership’s are not, and they are running the show in Concord nowadays.