Blatant anti-pledge bias at cabinet.com

[JellyFish]

Make sure your ad blocker is loaded before you go to their site, don't let their ads load in your browser.

See this crock of shit:

http://www.cabinet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080307/MILFORD01/366862572/-1/milford

Totally biased against the Pledge. No mention of the other side of the issue at all and the pro-tax propaganda is the meat of the article.

Sickening.

You can contact the editors here:

http://www.cabinet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=about

[Dave Ridley]

is there a way to post the article here?

[lildog]

It's (dump the) pledge time again

By Carolyn Dube
Published: Friday, Mar. 7, 2008
Residents of nearly 90 New Hampshire towns are being asked to take the first step toward getting rid of "the pledge" against broad-based taxes when they go to the polls on Tuesday.

According to the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition, state lawmakers are asked to take a pledge that says they will not adopt new taxes including sales and income taxes, and retain the property tax as the main source of revenue.

According to Paul Henle, executive director of the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition, the article does not bind a town to any official action.

"What we're hoping it will do is communicate a sense of the people" to legislators, Henle said.

He said a lot of people in New Hampshire want to see a change in the tax system, but they sense that New Hampshire lawmakers don't want that same change.

Last year the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition circulated the same petition and 14 towns had it on their warrant. Henle said 13 towns passed it in what the coalition considered a sort of test run for the petition and "it was wildly successful."

The article says:

"To see if the town will vote to approve the following resolution to be forwarded to our State Representatives, our State
Senator and our Governor: We the citizens of (town name) believe in a New Hampshire that is just and fair. The property tax has become unjust and unfair. State leaders who take a pledge for no new taxes perpetuate higher and higher property taxes. We call on our State Representatives, our State Senator and our Governor to reject the 'Pledge,' have an open discussion covering all options, and adopt a revenue system that lowers property taxes."

Henle said they hoped to have more than 100 towns with the petition on the warrant and the result of petitioners' efforts this year was 89 towns with the article on the warrant. Voters in Milford, Mont Vernon, Lyndeborough, Wilton, Hollis and Brookline will vote on the article on March 11.

Last year, Amherst voters approved the article.

However, in Milford, the article was changed during the deliberative session on Feb. 2 to read simply: Shall we call upon our Governor, State Senator, State Representatives, Selectmen and School Board members to be sensitive to the taxes paid by residents?

According to Ruth Heden, one of the volunteers who worked to put the petitioned article on the Milford warrant, the revised article still contains a piece of the original article's intent, but it doesn't pack the same punch.

"It took out probably what could be considered the strength of the article, asking legislators to reject the pledge and have an open and honest discussion about the tax system in New Hampshire," Heden said.

Prior to the deliberative session Heden had said she was in favor of the article because rising property taxes are "pricing people right out of their homes."

She said 52 percent of town expenses in Milford are paid through property taxes and it's a tremendous burden on a lot of people, especially residents who live on fixed incomes.

"The way we tax in New Hampshire is particularly regressive," Heden said.

According to Henle, 60 percent of the state's budget is paid by property taxes, a huge burden for many people.

He said the coalition does not advocate a specific new way of taxation; what it wants to see is a way of taxation that lowers the property tax and is fairer across the board.

"We're a traditional, grassroots organization," Henle said. "This (the petitioned article) is a way we have to give the residents a voice.

Rolf Bremer, of Brookline, said he circulated the petition because the state is overly reliant upon property taxes and it is a burden.

"If Lake Potanipo were like Lake Winnipesaukee, with summer homes all around it, or if our ski tow hill were like one of the mountains with condos up and down it, it might be a different story," Bremer said.

Towns with vacation homes and tourist attractions, like a ski resort, benefit greatly from the taxes paid there, but towns like those in the southern tier of the state, he said, like Brookline, don't have the same sort of tax base.

"This resolution is limited in the regard that all it's asking is that legislators not take the pledge 'no new taxes,'" Bremer said.

Bremer said he was able to get 35 signatures, in addition to his own and his wife's, within a matter of six hours. He hopes that's an indicator of the reception the article will receive on Election Day.

For more information, visit www.nhfairtax.org.

[John Edward Mercier]

Strange... the only property tax at the State level is for education, and is recent in its current rendering.
I'm quite certain most of the State budget (75-80%) is federally funded, with the remainder a mix of income and sales taxes.

[MTPorcupine3]

Well, to cheer you up, Grafton did pass the amended version, the one that says: "Resolved: We the citizens of Grafton, NH believe in a NH that is just and fair. The property tax has become unjust and unfair. State leaders who have increased State spending 17% in the last budget perpetuate higher and higher property taxes. We call on our State Representatives and our Governor to reduce the irresponsible spending in Concord, which will lower property tax burden for the residents of NH."

[Free libertarian]

 Grafton amended version...NOW that's more like it!  Smart folks those Graftonites!

[John Edward Mercier]

How did the 17% increase in State budget (spending isn't recorded till the end of the cycle and presently is looking at a $50M cut) affect local property taxes, other than the county transfer?