Property taxes

--by James Gruber, published in the Keene Sentinel February 20, 2026

 

The perfect storm is hitting local property tax payers ⎯ and it is not caused by our local town leaders.

 

The Keene Sentinel recently has described New Hampshire’s dire financial challenges for the next two years. I don’t think this can be resolved simply by “belt-tightening.”

 

During the last decade, the Republican-dominated state Legislature has reduced or eliminated long-term sources of critical tax revenues. This tax cutting includes:

• A 2015 reduction in the Business Profits Tax and the Business Enterprise Tax ⎯ a cumulative loss estimated at least half a billion dollars.

• The complete elimination this coming year of the Interest and Dividends Tax, which brought in $185 million last year.

This loss in tax revenues is happening at the same time as millions of dollars from the federal pandemic relief funds have dried up and the state is paying hundreds of millions to victims of abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center. The perfect storm!

In addition to the intentional reduction in tax revenues, local governments have lost previously promised revenues from the state. A few of the many broken promises are:

• The 1967 Meals and Room Tax was enacted with 40 percent shared with local government. Now, only 21 percent is shared.

• The 1969 Business Profits Tax was enacted with a commitment that the revenues would support local government. Now, no revenue from this source goes to local governments.

• A state gas tax was enacted in part to help local governments maintain their roads and bridges with virtually no significant increases in 23 years. It now provides far less funding due to years of inflation.

• State funding for its portion of an “adequate education” has shrunk nearly 50 percent relative to the actual cost of education per students.

• The state is also using our educational trust fund to support private and religious schools (the so-called voucher program) that skims off millions from public education. Republicans have pledged to grow this voucher program this year.

 

All of these tax cuts and broken promises have resulted in raising the tax burden on local property owners. We need to understand how this serious shortfall in funding was created and develop a long-term approach that stops downloading more costs on our schools, towns, and local government. Please let me (or your local state representative) know if you have some ideas on how, working together, we can help solve this statewide challenge.