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On April 9, 2009, I submitted the following letter to Foster's Daily Democrat, which they censored. (They are within their rights not to run it, but they did run many other letters about the Bud Martin- Jeb Bradley race, some of which were much more uninteresting and/or much more untrue than mine):
Former Congressman (and current State Senate candidiate) Jeb Bradley stated that a "nearly 10% percent hike" in the Rooms and Meals tax is being considered in the New Hampshire legislature. The Democratic majority amendment to HB2 (the main budget bill) in the NH House of Representatives actually only proposed raising the rooms and meals tax from 8% to 8.75%.
I do not know where Jeb Bradley studied fourth grade math. However, I am pretty sure (if I correctly remember what Mrs. Metcalf taught me 42 years ago at Mast Way School in Lee) that 8.75% minus 8% is only 0.75%- or 3/4 of 1%. The proposed increase is arguably "nearly" 1%, but it is nowhere near 10%.
Jeb stated that the proposed sales--- ahem! rooms and meals--- tax hike from 8.75% to 8% was a "nearly 10%" hike. 8.75 divided by 8 is indeed almost 1.10--- but that's not a 10% hike, because you don't divide a higher percentage by a lower percentage. You subtract the lower percentage from the higher percentage.
Happily, Foster's saved me from publishing a mischaracterization of HB2 as the "main" budget bill. HB2, even though it is much more extensively debated than HB1, is the "trailer bill" for the budget. HB1 is where all the numbers in the budget are specified, and HB2 sets out the rules by which the budget is constructed and says where the money comes from. But that may not be why they didn't run my letter. They have published much more glaring factual errors than that on their letters page. (And, there are glaring factual errors every day elsewhere in the paper, but we only expect correct facts from the Letters to the Editor correspondents. We don't expect true facts from the editor herself or from her staff.)
(posted some time ago, but worth the time - promoted by Mike)
New Hampshire collected a total of $2,519,714,000 in property taxes in 2004 (source)
New Hampshire residents earned $47.56 billion in personal income in 2004 (source)
New Hampshire stores collected $20.83 billion in retail sales in 2002, including $2.08 billion in rooms and meals, leaving $18.72 billion in untaxed retail sales. (source)
