CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The traditional pledge many New Hampshire politicians take to fight general sales or income taxes is coming under fire at some town meetings this month.
A group called the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition has taken on the Pledge, advocating resolutions at town meeting urging elected officials to reject it. Fourteen towns will vote on the resolution.
Organizers say they see the meetings as a “dry run” and hope to vastly expand their reach before the 2008 elections.
“Our goal is that in 2008, candidates won’t feel they have to take the Pledge,” said the coalition’s executive director, Paul Henle. “They will be elected with free rein and can have an open discussion on the revenue system and come up with a solution to the property tax crisis.”
At the Inter-Lakes School District meeting last week, voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure.
“The meeting is to talk about running the schools, not about political statements made by a certain group of people to our elected officials,” said Meredith voter Richard Gerken.
The resolution states that the property tax has become unfair, and the pledge against a broad-based sales or income tax perpetuates a “burdensome” property tax.
It says, “We urge our elected officials to reject the ‘Pledge,’ to accept an open discussion covering all revenue options, and to adopt a revenue system that relieves the local property tax burden.”
The group was formed last year by the public policy committee of the New Hampshire Council of Churches.
“They were working on issues they felt were important – housing, economic development, welfare, health care – and they kept bumping up against same brick wall, the property tax,” Henle said.
Henle said he believes property taxes have caused a crisis, forcing people on fixed incomes to leave their homes and stretching town and school budgets.
In Henniker, Democratic state Reps. Eleanor Kjellman and Barbara French support the resolution.
“The whole premise of the Pledge is a ridiculous distraction,” Kjellman said. “We should have a discussion and look at the needs and all of the options for meeting those needs – property tax, income tax, sales tax.”
French has already advocated for an income tax as a fair way to finance education. “It’s not fair or equitable that we depend on property tax for everything, which may be the least indication of a person’s ability to meet their responsibilities,” she said.
Advocates of the Pledge say not implementing a broad-based tax is the only way to maintain the “New Hampshire advantage.” Tom Thomson, the son of Gov. Mel Thomson, who based his campaigns on the pledge three decades ago, said “the Pledge gives taxpayers the ability to look at an individual running for elected position and know they will work against a broad-based tax and for the New Hampshire advantage.”
Rather then adding taxes, Thomson said politicians should cut spending. “We need to get back to running the state just like you do a small business or family budget.” He added that residents can control property taxes by voting at town meeting.
The towns voting on the Fair Tax Coalition’s resolution opposing the Pledge are: Westmoreland, Harrisville, Holderness, Milton, Sandwich, Amherst, Henniker, Plainfield, Cornish, Hancock, Francestown, Hinsdale, Peterborough and Sharon.
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