House Republicans' - Statement on CACR6

House Speaker Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt (R-Salem)  today released the following statement with regard to the passage of CACR 6, a constitutional amendment that would require that any tax increase or bonding would need to receive a vote of 3/5ths of both the House and Senate.  This legislation will now move to the Senate, where, if it passes there, will appear on the November 2012 ballot.

"Today the NH House made it clear that any future decision on raising taxes and fees should rest with the voters of this state.  This amendment is important to the future financial stability of New Hampshire.  We have seen first hand over the last four years the damage that can been done to state, county and local governments when the legislature is allowed to tax and spend at will.  This will insure that any increase in taxes and additional bonding will no longer be done by a simple majority.  It is important that we give our citizens the opportunity to decide this issue at the polls in November of 2012."



Republican Leaders Ask for Specifics in Democrats’ Call for Higher Taxes and Borrowing

CONCORD – House Republican leaders, including House Speaker William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon), House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt (R-Salem) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Stephen Stepanek (R-Amherst) called for Democrats to point out what taxes and fees they would raise and how much more they would borrow to pay for the spending that they have called for in the coming budget.  Recently, House Democrat leaders and Governor Lynch have called for additional spending in the state fiscal year 2012-2013 budget.

House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt

“Over the past several days, Democrats have called for an end to the fiscally responsible belt tightening necessary to cure the hangover of the spending binge that they put us through the past four years.  While they have made clear that, as the party of big government, the Democrats want more spending, they have yet to point out which taxes and fees they would raise to pay for this additional spending, or if they would rather further jeopardize our state’s bond rating by borrowing even more from our children and grandchildren to pay for the spending now.” 

“After the Democrats left our state’s finances in ruins, New Hampshire voters knew they needed to elect some responsible adults to clean up the mess, which is exactly why Republicans have supermajorities across state government.  Despite the crystal clear message that the citizens sent last November, the Democrats want to continue the same tax, borrow and spend strategy that the public resoundingly rejected.”

House Speaker William O’Brien

“The House budget includes $47 million that was set aside to close the gaping hole in the current budget that was a result of the last round of inflated revenues.  That’s exactly why House leadership demanded that our budget use realistic revenue figures, and that’s just what we do.  We can’t continue to “look to the sky” for more money – that is a failed strategy that we will not repeat.”

“While it is a perfectly reasonable policy debate for others to suggest that the budget should spend more money, those who want to spend more need to show what taxes and fees they would raise on the working families and small businesses of the state.  Until and unless anyone who is calling for more spending produces a list of new and increased taxes and fees or increased borrowing to pay for bigger government, they are simply not being serious or honest with the public.”

House Ways and Means Chairman Stephen Stepanek

“With only slight variations, Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee and the state agencies agree with our approved revenue projections for the next two years.  As a consequence, more spending requires more taxing or borrowing if the legislature is going to meet its statutory obligation to present a balanced budget.  Just how much more do they want to borrow?  What new or increased taxes do they have in mind?”

NH House Rebulicans Statement on Reducing Tobacco Tax

CONCORD –House Majority leader D.J. Bettencourt (R-Salem) today released the following statement regarding the passage of HB 156, which reduces the tobacco tax. HB 156 passed by roll call vote 236 to 93. According to a study put out by the New Hampshire Grocers Association, a 10 cent rollback on the tax will see an estimated $12.8 million boost in revenue for the state.

“As a representative of a border community, I see firsthand how an increase in tobacco taxes hurts our communities. It makes our businesses less competitive and harder to create jobs. For the New Hampshire Advantage to having any meaning we need to actually have lower taxes than our neighboring states.”

House Republican Leadership Responds to Governor Lynch Criticism

CONCORD – House Speaker William O'Brien (R-Mont Vernon) and House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt (R-Salem) today released the following statement in response to Gov. Lynch press release on the House budget. 

“Unfortunately, Governor Lynch offered a budget that was roughly $300 million out of balance and includes $250 million in tax and fee increases.  He had the opportunity to provide an honest, transparent budget that did not raise taxes, but he chose not to do so.  Now, the House must take responsibility to do what New Hampshire voters demanded when they went to the polls in November – deliver a state budget with no new taxes or fees that uses responsible revenue figures and retains critical services statewide.  We would have preferred to have an ally in the Governor in giving the citizens a fiscally responsible budget, but he has sadly taken the side of bigger government over protecting the taxpayers of New Hampshire,” said House Speaker William O’Brien.

 “First Governor Lynch gave us a budget that continued to downshift millions of additional costs to our cities and towns while taxing our citizens even further, and then he chooses to stand on the sidelines and criticize the tough and responsible decisions that the House Finance committee is being forced to make thanks to the overspending and malfeasance of the Democrats over the past two budgets. For the Governor to claim budget decisions are being made without regard to the people is absurd and dishonest. House leadership is saddled with undoing the fiscal nightmare and chaos he and the Democrats caused over the past four years,” said House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt (R-Salem)

Bettencourt continued, “The out-of-control spending, accounting gimmicks and schemes left the taxpayers of New Hampshire with 100 new taxes and fees and a nearly billion dollar budget deficit. The Governor could have made the tough decisions to reduce state spending, but unfortunately he chose to lazily overinflate revenues and raise taxes and fees on the working families and small businesses of the state once again. The Governor could have been truthful with his revenue projections – we saw in February just how inflated and irresponsible the Governors revenue numbers continue to be. For him to make these claims when he came up $16.3 million short in February alone is outrageous. All because of his addiction to big spending. House leadership came up with an honest, realistic revenue projection for this budget and we’re sticking to it. This isn’t a game of Monopoly – this is taxpayer’s money. Governor Lynch has lost all credibility to lecture Republicans on the difficult choices that must be made in our economy.”



NH GOP Chairman Blasts Terie Norelli Plans for More Tax Hikes

CONCORD-New Hampshire Republican Chairman Jack Kimball blasted remarks made by House Minority Leader Terie Norelli that taxes are too low and need to be increased. 

Yesterday, House Republicans released responsible revenue figures and made clear that these represented the maximum spending for the state and that any additional funds would be returned to state taxpayers or used to provide tax relief to New Hampshire taxpayers or in the Rainy Day Fund.  Norelli made clear that revenue numbers should be increased to support more state spending.

"It's obvious that Terie Norelli and the Democrats still haven't figured out why they were thrown out of office in November and why the voters gave the Republicans supermajorities in the House and Senate.  The Democrats' fiscal mismanagement has left the state with over 100 tax and fee increases and yet we still face a budget deficit of close to $1 billion.  They need to get the message that New Hampshire is sick of their taxing and spending, which is why they are in the minority," said Kimball.

"House Republicans have done something that the Democrats would never do: draw a line in the sand to stop the spending and provide tax cuts.  The fact that we are talking about giving money back to our taxpayers and not looking to raise taxes shows just how far we have come, and just how out of touch Terie Norelli is from the citizens of New Hampshire."