Sunacom - Odell: "If you win $2 on a scratch ticket, by law, you should be sending-in 10 percent..."

In his Feb. 6, 2011 column on Sunacom.com, New Hampshire Senator Odell writes:

"If you win $2 on a scratch ticket, by law, you should be sending-in 10 percent of your winnings to the state." "...Charlie McIntyre suggested that, in part as a result of the gambling tax, lottery ticket buyers in Massachusetts are buying their tickets at home to avoid the tax..." "Instead of repealing the gambling tax effective at the end of the current fiscal year, the amendment would make the repeal effective upon passage."

"[Actual revenue for the current fiscal year is short by] less than one percent of projections... " "Still, there will be a major challenge given the built-in deficit projected, because of the lack of federal stimulus money... and new costs facing the state resulting from past policy decisions."

"...some people [have] six or more telecommunications providers from which to choose when they want to purchase services." "...in the two years since 2009 data was collected, one can be sure the traditional land-line companies have slipped further in the number of lines in service." "State regulatory policies need to change to insure that customers have service options and competitive pricing."

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  http://sunacom.com/columnists/odell/odell_02-06-11.html


NH Watchdog - Vanity Plate Fee Hike Cuts Sales

Higher Vanity Plate Fees bring small drop in Sales

(CONCORD)  A 60% increase in the fee charged for vanity license plates has resulted in a 5% drop in sales, according to the latest study from the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.  Since the Legislatire increased the annual surcharge for customized license plates from $25 to $40 as part of the FY09-10 budget, there are nearly 10,000 fewer vehicles on New Hampshire roads with Vanity Plates.

Josiah Bartlett Center Lead Investigator Grant Bosse, who authored the study, tracked the number of vanity and conservation plates in circulation each month in the year before and after the fee increase went into effect.  State revenues from vanity plate sales rose 52% over the previous year.

"New Hampshire drivers love their vanity plates.  Most love them enough to pay the higher fee," Bosse says.  "The drop in sales that we found can't be blamed on a slow economy, since sales of Conservation Plates remained steady over the past year."

The vanity plate fee increase was one of 41 tax and fee increases included in the FY09-10 budget.  The study concludes that raising fees on voluntary transactions like vanity plates does less economic harm than taxing other government services.

The report concludes, "Customizing a license plate is not an essential state service, and paying this fee is entirely voluntary.  The Legislature should consider higher license plates fees before raising taxes and fees on essential economic activities." Read the full report at NewHampshireWatchdog.org

CEI - Tales from The Spin Zone

Good afternoon.  Coming to you from CEI Studios today: Tales From the Spin Zone

When Americans rebelled against cap-and-trade mandates and taxes, politicians didn’t listen; they just started coming up with new names for cap-and-trade. “Pollution limits,” “linked fees,” “pollutions reduction targets” – all different ways of saying the same thing.  As CEI Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis says, “An energy tax by any other name is just as foul.”

CEI studios has created this short YouTube video imagining how Senators Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham came up with new names for their upcoming global warming cap-and-trade scheme.

 

Click here to enter . . . “The Spin Zone.”

 

 

 

www.cei.org // www.globalwarming.org // www.twitter.com/ceidotorg



Rising Tide of Taxes and Fees - Josiah Bartlett Report of July 2009

Thought you might all be interested (if you haven't already seen this report) in this budget info...thanks to Charlie Arlinghaus of the Josiah Barlett Center for Public Policy, a NH think tank. This report outlines at least 38 new taxes and fees.

Summary: So far this year, the legislature has passed 38 new or increased taxes and fees that are budgeted to raise $318.6 million over two years. For historical comparisons, there were 29 new taxes and fees passed in the previous two years. In previous legislative sessions, the low has been 9 in 2003-4 with 20 in both 2001-2 and 2005-6. The majority of tax and fee increases have been passed separately from the budget itself.

New Hampshire State Budget as of July 2009