Governor Hassan's statements on the recent budget bills:
CONCORD - Governor Maggie Hassan today issued the following statement after the Senate voted to pass Senate Bill 1, reducing the rate of the business profits tax, and Senate Bill 2, reducing the rate of the business enterprise tax:
“Because they are unwilling to consider reasonable revenue changes – including a modest increase in the tobacco tax – the New Hampshire House of Representatives is currently decimating critical economic priorities for our state, including cutting the Department of Transportation in half, taking away health coverage from tens of thousands of people, cutting services like meals on wheels for seniors, cutting funding for higher education, and even cutting travel and tourism promotion in half. These two bills would create even deeper holes in this and future budgets, negatively impacting our ability to invest in the shared priorities that are critical to the success of our people, businesses and economy. Further eroding the revenue sources that do exist is irresponsible and will lead to further reductions.
“While we must maintain our low-tax environment, which the Tax Foundation ranked as the seventh-best in its business tax climate index, we must also continue investing in priorities such as a strong and healthy workforce pipeline, a modern transportation infrastructure, and safe communities that businesses tell me are critical to their ability to grow, thrive and create jobs. As we face ever-tightening budgets, we must examine the fiscal impact of these tax breaks with the same scrutiny as any new spending, and supporters of these bills must address how the lost revenue would be offset.”