In “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire, the U.S. Looks for Tax Leadership
2nd October 2012
In New England, there remains one granite pillar against the tyranny of high tax burdens, found within the spirit of New Hampshire. This November, leadership from the State Legislature will attempt to end the creeping encroachment of the personal income tax applied to gaming winnings and interest from dividends. The New Hampshire Income Tax Amendment, known as CACR (13), would ban all forms of personal income taxes applied to a natural person.
The tax on ‘unearned income’ has long been a blot on the tax record of New Hampshire. Getting rid of it would certainly be a step in the right direction.
A good example of how state tax factors matter across state boundaries can be observed within the tale of Essex County, MA, which borders Rockingham County, NH. Over the last fifteen years, more than 23,000 taxpayers have left Rockingham County for Essex County, taking with them just over $1 billion in net AGI. However, during that same time more than 49,500 taxpayers have moved from Essex County to Rockingham County – thereby bringing more than $2.46 billion in net AGI to New Hampshire. This long-term trend from relatively high-tax states toward lower-tax regimes is typical for most states, even when close borders are not shared.
But New Hampshire is increasingly filling up with flotsam from neighboring socialists states like Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine, who bring their high-tax, grow-government attitudes with them. How long can it hold out, as the rest of New England becomes a Soviet-style collective? We’ll find out.