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Statement from Chairman Buckley Regarding GOP Back Door Property Tax Increase Plan

by: VABBY

Tue Jun 23, 2009 at 14:54:19 PM EDT

CONCORD - Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley today issued the following statement regarding the GOP's plan for more unspecified budget cuts:

"After months of hearings, Democratic leaders crafted a responsible and balanced budget while Republicans sat back and admittedly refused to be 'fully involved' in the process. Now as the eleventh hour approaches, Republicans have buckled to political pressure and put forward an irresponsible plan for unspecified cuts. If adopted, their plan would downshift costs and spell $100 million in new taxes for property owners.

"Today, Republicans offered too little, too late. It's time for them to stop using political gimmicks to appear engaged in the process and actually do the job they were elected to do.

"A 7 percent across-the-board cut isn't a budget plan, it's a back door property tax increase. Saddling property owners with the burden of balancing the state budget is not only irresponsible, it's plain wrong. Homeowners shouldn't be forced to pay for the GOP's lack of ideas or leadership."

(Posted by Victoria Bonney, Communications Director at the New Hampshire Democratic Party)

VABBY :: Statement from Chairman Buckley Regarding GOP Back Door Property Tax Increase Plan

Tags: Sherm Packard, Neal Kurk, GOP, Republican, Cuts, Budget, Property Tax, raymond buckley, (All Tags)

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Statement from Chairman Buckley Regarding GOP Back Door Property Tax Increase Plan | 2 comments

7% (0.00 / 0)

The Sununu/Republican 7% Plan: Over a thousand layoffs of State employees, vast amounts of money taken from cities, towns, and counties, not being able to make our bond payment obligations, massive cutbacks in help to our most needy. The Sununu/Republican 7% Plan is a plan for disaster. The Democrats' budget is at least a plan for survival during the worst economic downturn in decades. Democrats are governing.

by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 02:46:38 AM UTC

Gosh, Sounds a Lot Like Vermont! (4.00 / 1)

That's pretty much what we were facing, only our Governor is a Republican, he vetoed the budget bill, and the Democratically controlled House and Senate overrode the veto (second veto override this session, and the first double-override in the state's history).

Except of course, we actually have an income tax, and our property tax has an income sensitivity provision that adjusts and eventually caps the tax liability of a piece of property depending on the owner's annual income. Our GOP Gov's backdoor property tax increase would have moved a big obligation (teacher retirement funds) from the general fund to the education fund, shifting the source of monies from the income tax to the property tax, so he could pretend that he wasn't raising taxes (people would complain to town select boards and school boards) and had balanced the budget (along with several hundred uncoordinated body-count state employee layoffs, including workers with federally funded jobs).

Good luck with all this.

by: Nanuq @ Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 03:53:22 AM UTC