Op-Ed: Daniels Led The Way To Responsible, Conservative Budget

Press release from the NH State Senate:

July 9, 2021

With final passage of a responsible, fiscally conservative budget that meets New Hampshire’s needs, we would like to applaud Sen. Gary Daniels for the remarkable job he has done making it possible.

As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Gary was charged with finalizing the state’s two-year budget plan, using the latest revenue projections to set priorities across all of state government. The final Senate package meets the needs of New Hampshire’s most vulnerable, lowers taxes to keep our economy growing, and manages the state’s finances in a responsible manner.

Because of the tax reforms championed by Republicans over the last several years, New Hampshire’s economy is among the strongest in the country. In fact, our state’s unemployment rate is now lower than when the COVID-19 pandemic began. We also have the lowest poverty rate in the nation. This budget cuts taxes on New Hampshire employers, reducing the Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise Tax, and increasing the threshold for filing the BET to $250,000. That will provide immediate relief to New Hampshire’s small businesses and help create more high paying jobs for our friends and neighbors.

We also phase out the Interest and Dividends Tax on savings and retirement income, making New Hampshire truly income tax free and helping our seniors. We protect Main Street businesses who received loan forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program from an unexpected tax bill and lower the Meals and Rooms Tax for the first time in decades to give a boost to our travel and tourism industry.

This budget provides relief to property taxpayers at every level. We send back $100 million under the Statewide Property Tax. We also share $188 million in Meals and Rooms Tax revenue with cities and towns, an increase of $50.5 million over the last budget, and for the first time protect that revenue sharing with a dedicated fund. We also increase funding for county nursing homes by $29.1 million, providing relief on the county portion of your property tax bill.

We promised to address education funding, and we delivered. The COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for our schools. Because enrollments were down last fall, our school funding formulas would have provided less funding for districts next year. We promised that this would not happen, and we delivered. We have fixed the funding formulas and protected $67 million in state aid going to our local schools.

This budget also provides $30 million in building aid for new school construction projects, and $35 million under the Relief Funding Plan targeted to school districts with the most pressing fiscal need. Overall, this budget increases education funding by $102 million over current law for a total of $2.2 billion.

Sen. Daniels has always fought for New Hampshire veterans. The budget he crafted increases funding for Veteran Support Services by $3 million, creates a National Guard Enlistment Incentive Program, and provides $1.5 million to help veterans recover from social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After years of paying tolls on a road that has long been paid off, Merrimack drivers will soon see the toll booth at Exit 10 demolished thanks to Gary’s leadership on the issue. This toll booth costs almost as much to run as it collects from drivers, so taking it down makes financial sense.

We promised to protect our most vulnerable, and we delivered. This budget increases support for programs addressing mental health and substance misuse, including funding for a new forensic psychiatric hospital, additional transitional beds to tackle the emergency room boarding crisis, and full funding of the Developmentally Disabled Waitlist. We also set aside $3 million to help seniors and veterans recover from the social isolation caused by the pandemic.

New Hampshire has a budget that meets our needs and protects are most vulnerable. We have Sen. Gary Daniels to thank for making this happen.

Sen. Chuck Morse (R-Salem) is Senate President. Sen. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) is Senate Majority Leader.

This press release was produced by the NH State Senate. The views expressed here are the author's own.