Why are our legislators so complacent regarding our local economy?

As a concerned citizen of this state, that’s a question I ask myself on a daily basis.   I currently manage a territory of auto dealers throughout the state of New Hampshire and the sites I see are grim.  Every day I drive through the main streets of our state seeing boarded up businesses, large and small, and neighborhoods littered with for sale/lease signs in the midst of a declining housing market while we citizens live in a perpetual state of hope.  I talk to many small business owners who maintain that positive “Live Free or Die” attitude yet they teeter on failure due to heavy tax burdens and lack of patronage because of high unemployment rates and disappearing consumer confidence. 

New Hampshire’s most recent budget has grown by 6-10% while other states in the union have averaged a 5% reduction in their budgets.  We have seen more than 38 new tax increases with no end in government growth.  The most recent assault on our state’s small businesses is the LLC Tax.  As someone who deals with small business owners daily, I can assure you that this 13.5% additional tax on small businesses will have an adverse effect on our local economy.   I hear it every day from automotive dealers, “I have to let this guy go and that go etc.” or “I want to add more people, but I just can’t afford it right now” and, perhaps the most poignant of all statements, “This LLC tax is going to kill me and my business”.  It has become popular among liberal politicians to paint successful business as something evil to be punished.  There was once a time when being a thriving businessman was considered a good thing.  I miss those days.   The bottom line is that we need to cut spending and offer tax relief to New Hampshire’s small business owners.  This will give them the much needed capital to do what we need them to do most, create jobs . Our state government is driving New Hampshire citizens off a cliff with their irresponsible spending habits and we have a responsibility to step on the breaks.   

Comments

[Rob]

I think it is typical of the spend then spend some more attitude almost all politicians have had in the last decade. I hope Concord smartens up soon but I doubt it. As someone that will be affected by the LLC tax I am very concerned about it and the impact it will have on my company and employees. I hope this prompts more people to start calling their state reps and getting involved before NH winds up in the same bankrupcy situation as California and NY.

[Robert Giuda]

The ruinous spending of the Democrat-dominated House and Senate, with the full complicity of the Governor, has produced a business climate in NH that is toxic to business startups, expansions or relocations. The very essence of what New Hampshire has stood for for centuries is being shredded. Instead of representing the frugality, common sense and self-reliance for which our citizens have become legend, those in power have chosen to spend money the state doesn't have, on programs we don't need, incurring a budget deficit of half a billion dollars. Their answer to their wasteful spending? Do exactly the wrong thing in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression: raise taxes and fees, and further burden business and family finances at a time when every penny is critical to keeping their heads above water.

Instead of creating jobs, businesses are preparing to lay off additional workers as the ruinous LLC tax, brainchild of the Commissioner of Revenue and the Chairwoman of the Ways & Means Committee, is implemented. Even the Department of Revenue is struggling to try to figure out the rules for this travesty. But one thing is certain: it will cost jobs in a down economy - exactly what we do not need.

I have complete faith that the good people of New Hampshire are going to vote to return some semblance of fiscal sanity to our state In November.

Bob Giuda
Candidate for Congress, 2nd CD, NH
www.bobgiuda.com

[Anonymoose]

Big deficits, phony jobs programs, all thanks to Lynch.. 2010 can't come soon enough.

[Doug]

Don't forget the damage being wrought at the local town/city levels with this same "can't ever cut spending" mentality... and ESPECIALLY AT THE COUNTY LEVEL. It is here that we rely totally on our state reps to watch over that level of business. Here in Belknap-- WITH A HEALTHY "REPUBLICAN" MAJORITY, we continue to get hosed by out of control spending. Beware these Republicans that-- after refusing to make cuts and have a real impact in an area they control-- offer themselves up as tea party sympathetic candidates who will "fix" what ails us in Concord. I offer Fran Wendleboe, now a candidate for state senate, as Exhibit A. Pro big spending (at the county level); Anti-transparency (at the county level); Pro anti-liberty secret militia... Yeah- I'm ALL SET with the phony "saviors"...