House Republican Leaders React to $17m in Business Taxes and $26m in Aggressive Auditing in Governor’s Budget

CONCORD – House Republican Leader Gene G. Chandler (R-Bartlett) and House Republican Policy Leader Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford) today offered the following statements following review of the executive summary of Governor Hassan’s budget, which on page 7 adds auditor positions to aggressively target small businesses resulting in $26 million in tax revenue. The budget proposal also blocks tax relief to employers by repealing tax reductions passed by the previous legislature intended to promote job creation. The Governor’s revenue summary on page 8 estimates suspending those tax laws will result in $17 million in taxes on small businesses.

House Republican Leader Gene G. Chandler

“In order to improve the economy, it’s imperative that we continue to make New Hampshire more business friendly. Under the Governor’s plan, tax reforms passed by the previous legislature that would have resulted in savings to our small businesses will no longer take effect. The net result is $17m in taxes coming directly out of the pockets of our job creators over the next biennium. This is not the innovative approach we would have expected.”

House Republican Policy Leader Laurie Sanborn

“I am deeply concerned about the numerous tax increases in this budget, and it’s affect on the hard working families and employers of our state. The Governor talks about improving the economy but in her budget she proposes a number of anti-business tax increases and aggressive audits that she anticipates will bully an additional $26m out of our small businesses. We need to encourage responsible business success and job creation, not impose disincentives and barriers for economic growth as this budget does.”

Josiah Bartlett Center - The Fight over Revenue Estimates

Weekly Update from the
Josiah Bartlett Center

Keeping you up to date on our latest research
on the issues impacting New Hampshire

The Next State Budget Fight will be over Revenue Estimates

New Hampshire's budget battles are always about revenue, and this year is no exception. Revenue estimates drive spending and make some decisions possible, others impossible. This year's estimates will determine the path the budget takes.

During boom times, revenues flow freely into the state treasury and make the state budget about who gets more money. But an economic downturn or poor revenue estimate creates budget crises and constant pressure to cut.... Click here to keep reading.

Governor Hassan Issues Executive Order Creating Consensus Revenue Estimating Panel

Office of New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan

Panel of Experts Will Advise Governor

On State Revenue Projections Throughout Budget Cycle

CONCORD – Fulfilling her commitment to implement fiscally responsible reforms to the state budgeting process, Governor Maggie Hassan issued an Executive Order today creating a Consensus Revenue Estimating Panel. The panel of experts will work to periodically develop and update revenue estimates and provide advice to the Governor both through the budget process and after the budget’s adoption.

The Governor’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Panel will be chaired by Gerard Murphy, the Governor’s Budget Director. The members are Linda Hodgdon, Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services (or designee); Kevin Clougherty, Commissioner of the Department of Revenue Administration (or designee); Richard Samuels, a director of the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association and an attorney at McLane, Graf, Raulerson and Middleton; Dennis Delay, an economist with the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy; Jeff McLynch of the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute; and Ross Gittell, an economist and Chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire.

“A balanced budget is the cornerstone of a strong economy, and a fiscally responsible balanced budget requires revenue estimates that are as reliable and accurate as possible,” said Governor Hassan. “By bringing together experts from the business community, academia, and the public sector, we can work to improve our revenue estimates and ensure more accurate information throughout the budget process. I thank the members of our Consensus Revenue Estimating Panel for agreeing to serve their fellow citizens by supporting our efforts to balance the budget while protecting our priorities.”

The panel’s responsibilities include reviewing revenue estimates to confirm accuracy and reliability; monitoring variables materially impacting estimates such as employment, population trends, interest rates, income, business growth trends and other indices as are appropriate; and providing periodic revenue estimates to the Executive branch and to share such estimates with the Legislative branch. Once the budget is adopted, the panel will meet regularly to review revenue estimates and to help ensure that the state remains on track for a balanced budget. Legislative leaders will also be invited to meetings of the panel to ensure an open and informative exchange of information between the Executive and Legislative branches regarding revenue projections.

The first meeting of the Governor’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Panel will be tomorrow, Thursday, January 24, at 3:30 p.m. in the Executive Council Chamber at the State House.

The full text of the Governor’s Executive Order is attached.

Statements by Senators Odell and Morse on Gov. Hassan's Revenue Estimating Panel

The New Hampshire Senate

Majority Office

Concord, NH – Senate Ways and Means Chairman Bob Odell, R-Lempster, and Finance Chairman Chuck Morse, R-Salem, released the following statements today following Gov. Hassan’s executive order establishing a revenue estimating panel:

Senator Odell stated:

“When developing our revenue estimates, the Senate Ways and Means Committee takes testimony from numerous department heads, economists, and business leaders.  This open and information driven process has led the committee to adopt numbers for the current budget that are off by less than two percent.  In the months ahead, the committee looks forward to considering the recommendations of Gov. Hassan’s revenue panel as another part of our process as we work to develop balanced estimates consistent with a cautious economic outlook.”

Senator Morse stated:

“When building the current budget, the Senate Finance Committee relied heavily on the work done by Sen. Odell and the Ways and Means Committee.  The slight surplus in the first year of the budget and the near perfect estimates to-date in the second year are due in significant part to their good work.  The governor is right in noting the need for a ‘systematic and consistent method of forecasting state revenues.’  Thankfully, the Senate has experienced, pragmatic and thoughtful leaders like Bob Odell guiding our work in this area.  I plan to rely on the estimates developed by his committee.”

House Republican Leaders Comment on Governor’ s Creation of a Consensus Revenue Estimating Panel

CONCORD – House Republican Leader Gene Chandler (R-Bartlett) and Ranking Republican Member of the House Ways and Means committee, Norman Major (R-Plaistow) gave the following comments in reaction to Gov. Hassan’s executive order creating a Consensus Revenue Estimating Panel:

House Republican Leader Gene Chandler

“We appreciate the Governor’s initiative in creating this panel, but estimating revenue has traditionally been in the purview of the legislature. We will not cede our legislative responsibility to develop reasonable and sound revenue estimates. We are elected by and accountable to the taxpayers of New Hampshire, but appointed members of the Governor’s panel could be viewed as having other interests. We look forward to hearing what the panel has to say, but we intend on continuing to produce our own reasonable revenue estimates, drawing upon the years of experience House members have in this very important process.”

House Ways & Means Committee Ranking Republican Norman Major

“I welcome input from all sources throughout the revenue estimating process, but in the end, the law prescribes that this is a function of the Legislature. The prior Legislature chose to use reasonable, responsible revenue figures to bring integrity and accountability back to the budgeting process. As it turns out, the revenue estimates we adopted were accurate to within 1% for fiscal year 2012. This is a testament to our Ways and Means Committee’s hard work to get the right numbers, not politically expedient figures. I hope the Governor's panel takes the same care and approach.”