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Do you have questions about the Vouchers (EFAs) program?
One question addressed recently by journalist Gary Rayno is “How has the money from the Educational Freedom Accounts been spent by families in NH?”
It has been spent in surprising ways. In addition to tuition for religious and private schools, money has been spent on: summer camps, religious camps, ski resorts, driving lessons, music lessons, and a bike park, among other things. None of these activities would be paid for, for public school children. Should NH taxpayers being paying for this?
Why is NH in a fiscal hole?
On the surface it just doesn’t make sense. We have high property taxes, services have been cut by a republican legislature everywhere you look, and NH is a relatively prosperous state. Shouldn’t be a problem you would think…
The reality is that over the past two decades the legislature, in pursuit of a “free-state“ agenda has pushed our budget to the brink. They continue to sell voters on a pig in a poke. Reduce revenue streams to inspire some promised benefit and then disappoint.
For example, The Business Enterprise Tax and Business Profits tax have been cut with the promise of increased revenues due to businesses thriving with less taxes. Well,… what has happened is a different story. First the good news, business taxes were reduced and business related revenues increased. Now the bad news, The lost revenues are estimated to be between $795M and $1.17B. The increased business related revenues were due to other factors and in fact, NH underperformed our neighbors in terms of business growth. Note that our neighboring states did not reduce their business taxes.
Now come school vouchers. Not expensive and great benefits Republicans say! Remember this when property taxes must rise yet again to make up for the squeeze!
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Letters to the Beacon reprinted with the authors permission…
A New Hampshire Myth
To the editor: Like everyone reading this letter, I have been occasionally toying with the various AI opportunities on the computer. So, when Google's AI popped up with the suggested question, “What is a common myth about New Hampshire”, I couldn't resist clicking on it. Here's the myth: “Nobody pays taxes ever.” It then went on to say “New Hampshire has no state sales tax or income tax, which attracts shoppers from other states. However, it relies heavily on property taxes, which are among the highest in the nation when combining state and local rates.” In fact, NH is not among the ten lowest tax states or even the twenty lowest tax states. It comes in at 29th. This did not surprise me. I moved back to NH after spending my working years in New York City. I did NOT find I was paying a lot less in taxes. The property taxes are horrendous. The Republicans have controlled the entire government in Concord for the last six years. Have they lowered your property taxes? They haven't lowered mine either. Keep this in mind the next time you vote. Make New Hampshire Affordable!!!
Dick Backus
A peaceful candlelight Vigil was held on January 9th for Renee Good, in Concord. Renee Good was the women shot by an ICE officer on January 7th in Minneapolis. She was an American citizen with a family.
In spite of the rain, 100s of people attended, according to one of the attendees.
Join the GSOP vigil on 2nd Tuesdays of the month to support our immigrant neighbors
Busting More Myths
With a new regime at the Department of Education, more information has been released about Education Freedom Accounts (EFA), the voucher program. As a property taxpayer in New Boston, I found much of interest but, with limited space, will try to bust two myths.
Myth #1: The voucher program gives low-income families access to broader educational choices for their children. This intention has proven to be unrealistic over the 4 years of the program. From 2021 to 2025, fewer and fewer numbers of children from low-income families use EFAs. Of the $51.6 million in the current program (up from $8.1 million), only ~ $3 million is going to low-income participants.
Myth #2: The voucher program helps taxpayers. Republicans claim that taking children out of public school saves us money, as much as $266 million. The shocking fact is that 96.7% of the families getting EFAs did not have children in the public schools. We were not paying their public school costs, but now we are paying for their EFAs. In other words, it costs us more.
Our property taxes, that largely support public school costs, are kept high by the voucher program. Public money should be for public schools. We need a government that works for us.
Ellen Anderson
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