Two Tax repeals in the works for New Hampshire

  With New Hampshire Republicans winning seven out of eight special elections over the last year– running on smaller government and lower taxes– something interesting has begun to happen in New Hampshire.

  Democrat Governor John Lynch has either increased existing taxes or created taxes and fees in order to pay for his irresponsible spending over the years. Last year’s budget contained two taxes in particular that have been widely unpopular and have come under fire in recent months, the “LLC tax” and the “tent tax.”

  The LLC tax was a tax that was slipped into the last budget at the last minute and is a tax on limited liability companies– it amounts to a capital gains tax increase. Governor Lynch had no problem signing this tax into law, but suddenly he is calling for its repeal.

  And then there is the “tent tax.” Last year the governor signed a tax increase on the rooms and meals tax. The tax on rooms and meals is now a whopping 9%! But that is not all, they expanded the rooms tax to include campgrounds. People who visited campgrounds previously did not have to pay a tax on a campsite, but once this tax was implemented they suddenly saw the price of renting a campsite jump by ten percent. Needless to say, this hurt the camping industry as New Hampshire competes with Vermont and Maine for camping tourism.

  Today the State house voted to kill the “tent tax” and a vote will soon be taken in the senate to kill this tax.

  Is it a mere coincidence that these two taxes may be repealed now that Republicans have been gaining ground in the state by running on being in favor of tax cuts? I don’t think so, it is an election year after all.

  They laughed at us when we attended the Tea Parties all across the state last April, the demeaned us and they tried to marginalize us. But we have been gaining momentum, and we have almost completely swept the elections that have occurred since that day last April. They are not laughing at us any more.

  Perhaps the state has finally opened their eyes and perhaps they finally understand that we are serious and that they are in trouble when the election rolls around in November if they do not change their tax and spend ways.

  There is no doubt in my mind that the Tea Party movement is beginning to have an effect right here in New Hampshire. There is no way that the state would even be talking about these repeals if the people were motivated and upset. While these special elections and these two tax repeals are a good start, that is all it is. We must not forget who put us in this bind in the first place. I am happy that the state is finally talking about repealing taxes but they cannot be trusted not to fall back on their old habits once the election is over, we need to vote them out of office once and for all and be done with it.