GRANITE STATE TAXPAYERS

FEBRUARY 13, 2008

GRANITE STATE TAXPAYERS CALLS FOR SUPPORT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PREVENT A STATE INCOME TAX

Bedford, NH – At its February 12, 2008, meeting the Board of Directors of Granite State Taxpayers unanimously voted for a resolution calling for legislative support of CACR 24, the constitutional amendment that would prohibit the state from establishing an income tax. The resolution called upon all Republicans legislators and their legislative leadership to support this Republican effort and for fiscally responsible Democrats to join them in preserving the New Hampshire Advantage. Passage of this amendment in the Legislature will allow voters to decide for themselves whether they need a state income tax.

This resolution was passed in response to reports that a state budget deficit of up to $200 million is developing as predicted last spring and still Gov. Lynch and his legislative majority have not solved the crisis of education funding that the Josiah Bartlett Center for Social Policy sees presenting a "huge spending obligation of $620 - $840 million [that] will push the size of the hole in the budget over a billion dollars."

In support of this resolution Granite State Taxpayers' Vice Chairman and press spokesperson Bill O'Brien noted that, "The fiscal irresponsibility of the current administration when it increased the state's operating budget by 17.4% in the face of a recession and left unresolved educational and highway maintenance issues makes it critical that the voters be given the opportunity to adopt the firewall of a constitutional amendment prohibiting an income tax."

Without this firewall, Gov. Lynch and his legislative allies will soon turn to broad-based taxes, including an income tax, to solve their spending crisis. Instead, they need only to implement the solution of those who in the past have shown how to bring prosperity to New Hampshire: control government spending and maintain low taxes.

Governor Mel Thomson and State Senator George Lovejoy founded Granite State Taxpayers in 1990. It is a non-partisan, non-sectarian, and non-profit organization of New Hampshire citizens. For more information, please log onto http://www.granitestatetaxpayers.org/.