New Hampshire
DAY 4 Now, What To Do About Taxes in NH?
Our readers – you folks – have really come through in sharing your ideas on what to do about taxes in New Hampshire. I am so grateful!
Now what to do. I will post this DAY 4 group of reader ideas here including a link that has the other three days worth of opinions. And will have a DAY 5 Friday because the tax ideas keep coming. Send to nancywestnews@gmail.com
This link contains links to DAYS 1, 2, 3
RON RAYNER, Concord, NH
The current system is badly broken and over-reliant on property taxes by years of neglect and the presence of Free Staters within our Legislature; the “balance” that could be achieved and should be sought for is now WAY out of control. Like the “fulcrum” on the see-saw, now badly broken.
Tax Remedies — Framework
1) Business Profits Tax — Slowly, incrementally increase the Business Profits Tax back to where it was before Sununu mucked up the works; it’s still lower than the surrounding states.
2) Dividends & Interest Tax —Reinstitute. Make adjustments such that it allows a higher base amount to be tax free; simply increase that base and return the same % tax on interest (as prior) up to, say, $50K; then increase the % tax on interest higher than $50K such that it effectively becomes a graduated tax on interest.
3) Broad-based Tax — is critical. I vote for a sales tax; Why? Because it spreads it out over a much wider base, including ALL of our tourists who utilize our infrastructure just as we residents do. The lowest sales tax in all states in New England is ME at 5.5%. If we imposed one at 5.0%, yes, that would cut into and hurt our gross sales $$. No doubt. BUT, limit it to something much lower, like 1.5% to 2.0% as a cap. Then the key becomes, just like other states have struggled with, what does it apply to? There should be wide exemptions for food and housing; clothes should have a $ limit like, say, up to $750 or even $1K is exempt; anything over is subject to the 1.5% tax. These exemptions, if done right, make it fair, even to the poorest amongst us.
4) 3-3 Tax Plan by Andru V. — Yes, I do believe it would remedy MUCH of what is broken and would overall be fair. BUT, guess what? I maintain that an income tax, no matter how it’s structured, will FAIL. A low % sales tax will have a better (slightly) chance of passage because of A) the exemptions carved out, and B) it spreads it among MANY (i.e., out of staters).
5) Gas Tax — Leave it alone because we are already 42 years behind on maintaining our roads and the number of red-listed bridges.
6) Highway Toll Taxes — Increase all tolls for everyone to $1. Wow! A 30-cent increase for those of us with EZ-Pass; that’s a no-brainer! Is it “legal” to increase the highway toll on just out of staters? I support that, but also question that, although, admittedly, I’m not an attorney.
7) Not for Profits 501(c)(3) Organizations — They proliferate everywhere, especially in a “Capital City” like Concord. They need to contribute somehow, like some small % of their gross revenue. I can imagine the criticism, but we need to start somewhere.
RON RAYNER, Concord, NH
JENNIFER SIEGRIST
Below are my tax thoughts…
Because I read your articles and those of Garry Rayno’s, I feel I am well informed and, as such — mostly pissed off!
Thank you for all the tireless efforts you and your entire newsroom put into InDepthNH. I truly value the coverage you provide and know you deserve every award you have all received and many more.
JENNIFER SIEGRIST, Milford, NH
CHUCK RHOADES, Dover, NH
We recently received our property tax bill in the mail. While I don’t begrudge paying taxes for services, even those I may not use, I am alarmed at the ever-increasing property taxes and the inequality of our tax structure that it represents.
While not absolving municipal officials from their responsibility for prudent management, the fault for these increases seems clearly to lie with our elected state and federal officials. At the state level, the extremist Republican Free Staters control the state legislatures and apparently the governor too. They have eliminated the interest and dividend tax, which mostly wealthy people paid. They continue passing exorbitant subsidies for private schools, directly competing with our public school system. Our schools are fed by our property taxes to a degree greater than any other state in the country since we are dead last in state funding for education.
Less attention is paid to the effect that federal action (or inaction) has on our property taxes. Carleigh Beriont, candidate for the Congressional District 1 nomination, brings a fresh perspective to this problem. In her platform, viewable at CarleighBeriont.com, she notes that a key factor in our increasing property taxes is the federal government’s failure to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Special education costs drive increases in local school budgets and this law promised to provide 40% of these mandated expenses. The actual allocations have never come close to fulfilling that promise.
Carleigh Beriont’s analysis of this federal obligation and her willingness to pursue this issue if elected demonstrates her thoughtful grasp of the problem. She has similarly thoughtful perspectives on other issues as well. I encourage property owners and all other voters to give her website a look.
CHUCK RHOADES, Dover, NH
BURT COHEN
I’ve long wondered if we’ll finally come to our senses and pass an income tax in my lifetime. Chances are dwindling the older I get.
BURT COHEN
CORNELIA SCHNEIDER
New Hampshire’s Fiscal Mirage
While some New Hampshire legislators wear buttons proclaiming “Taxation is Theft,” most of us believe that smart and fair taxation is the necessary price for a civilized society. Unfortunately, our current tax system is neither smart nor fair. The so-called “New Hampshire Advantage” has become a windfall for the wealthy and large corporations, leaving middle-income families, lower-income households, and small businesses behind.
To restore balance, we should reinstate the Interest and Dividends (I&D) tax, provided we include protections for seniors who rely on that income for retirement. Simultaneously, we must address the school voucher program, which is currently draining the general fund and should be repealed.
The state’s fiscal health is more precarious than leadership admits. For the first time since the Great Recession of 2008, the government has been forced to tap into the “Rainy Day Fund” to balance the budget. Without a natural disaster or pandemic to blame, the state withdrew over $67 million — roughly 25% of the fund — to cover revenue shortfalls and fund school vouchers.
The only thing preventing a deeper dip into our “Rainy Day Fund” was a one-time infusion from a tax amnesty program. We are facing significant financial trouble, yet the Governor and Concord continue to “fiddle while Rome burns.”
CORNELIA SCHNEIDER, Moultonborough, NH
ADAM FINKEL
I appreciate everyone who has mentioned the folly of eliminating the 5% Interest/Dividends tax. I would willingly continue paying it if it was reinstated. And, simply by exempting all payments under $1,000 (not dividend income of $1,000 — payments of $1,000, or 5% of at least $20,000 in dividends), the state could raise about $150 million annually (a bit less than the $160 million that was formerly collected including the small payments). Someone paying between $1,000 and $10,000 per year in passive income would have assets in the $1-2 million range or higher; surely, they can easily afford 5% of this passive income, leaving the other 95% to accumulate.
But as regressive as our overall tax system is in NH, there is one aspect that is even more slanted toward the rich: the “Current Use” rates. I support lower taxes on large open space lots, so that owners won’t have an incentive to subdivide and sell. But I had no idea (until I looked!) at just how big a subsidy a 10-acre (or more) plot gets over a smaller one. I gladly pay about $3,600/acre in tax for a small parcel next to my cabin — but if it was 10 acres or more, the tax would be about $6/acre! Not $600, not $60, but $6.
SURELY there is a price point between $6 and $3,600 — let’s call it $60/acre — where an owner would still have no reason to sell, but where the state could reap some revenue for education, infrastructure, environmental protection, etc.
ADAM FINKEL, Dalton, NH
RICH DiPENTIMA
The NH tax system is one of the most unfair in the nation. Almost every tax that individuals pay, either directly or indirectly, are very regressive and have little relationship to one’s income. For example, property taxes, rooms and meals tax, gasoline tax, and tobacco taxes have no relationship to income. Those who pay rent pay the property owner’s property taxes through their rent, which has no relationship to income. The only tax that NH has that was related somewhat to income was the interest and dividends tax, which has now been repealed.
As a result, low and middle-income people pay a much larger percentage of their income on taxes than the wealthy (see below). This is what the Republicans call the “NH advantage.” Yes, a huge advantage for the rich. And as a result, we do not get the services provided by other states, or they must be provided by the cities and towns through property taxes.
Tax Burden by Income Level (2026 Context)
- Lowest 20%: Pay the highest effective state and local tax rate, often over 3 times higher than top earners, due to high property taxes (including those in rent) and consumer taxes.
- Middle 20% ($62,300–$104,100): Face an effective tax rate roughly 2.4 times higher than the top 1%.
- Top 1% (>$721,000): Pay the lowest effective state and local tax rate, estimated at around 2.8% of their income. [1] RICH DiPENTIMA
JUDY ULLMAN
I think an income tax is the only thing that makes sense.
JUDY ULLMAN
THOMAS MAINVILLE
Here is one way to bring a lot of extra money into the state: legalize recreational cannabis and tax it. There’s so much money going to MA, VT, and ME, and it’s all taxed. There’s a lot of money to be made off it that’s just being spent in other states. If it was made recreational and was taxed, many people wouldn’t mind paying a tax since they already are.
THOMAS MAINVILLE
OWEN MCISAAC
Thank you for this opportunity to share perspectives on taxes in New Hampshire.
Our family goes back four generations in the state. We came from Canada to build roads, staff mills, and be part of the economy. None of us has been rich, but our work supported the wealthy. We thought that if we worked hard and saved money, we would be alright.
Year after year, the tax rate rises disproportionately to what used to be a middle-class income. Now, the unthinkable has happened — we will have to leave the state and find another way to survive.
We watch at town meeting and in fora all over the state, the downshifting of state expense falling on municipalities and schools. We watch as terrified people attack them. I imagine those in the State House watching it all with glee. The sleight of hand worked!
I wish that there was more empathy among lawmakers. I wish that they understood that people like us who live in one-bathroom houses with no luxuries (none of us have ever had a dishwasher) do not buy alcohol, go out to movies, dine out, or do anything other than try to survive.
Thank you for this opportunity.
OWEN MCISAAC, Webster, NH
New Hampshire
From farm to… freezer? A new approach could help close N.H.’s local food gap. – The Boston Globe
“This process takes our product to a whole different level,” said Zydenbos. And, she said, it tastes delicious.
Vermont has the highest percentage of local food sales in the region (10.7 percent), followed by Maine (4.9 percent), with New Hampshire coming in third (4.6 percent), according to 2024 data from New England Feeding New England, a partnership of New England organizations advocating that the region produce 30 percent of the food it consumes by 2030. Massachusetts comes in fourth, with 3.6 percent of food spending on local items.
New Hampshire is second to last in New England when it comes to the value of vegetable sales ($23 million) and the value of agriculture ($209 million). Many farmers in the state struggle to turn a profit.
“Generally speaking, New Hampshire is a little bit behind,” said Shawn Menard, executive director of Seacoast Eat Local, a local food nonprofit, and board president at the Concord Food Co-op. Menard said other New England states have more robust infrastructure for food processing, purchasing, and distribution that supports local food production.
Since 2012, Zydenbos has operated Micro Mama’s, one of New Hampshire’s first fermented vegetable companies, sourcing local produce and transforming it into fermented vegetables sold at more than 50 locations around New England, including about 30 Whole Foods stores.
Now, Zydenbos wants to try something new, by making more processing equipment available for farmers and producers in New Hampshire and using it to introduce novel local food products. Among them: freeze-dried kimchi, a new take on a traditional Korean dish made with spicy fermented vegetables like napa cabbage and radishes.
With a $96,000 federal grant from the US Department of Agriculture in hand, she purchased new equipment, including an individual quick freezer and a freeze dryer. Food experts said the cost of the equipment is one barrier that’s prevented other small local businesses from offering similar products.
Jennifer Chadbourne, a clinical associate professor in agriculture, nutrition, and food systems at the University of New Hampshire, said freeze-dried kimchi is not widely available.
“It could be a really novel idea for the manufacturer,” she said.
Traditional kimchi and other fermented vegetables offer certain health benefits, like probiotics that can aid gut health, according to Chadbourne. She said freeze-drying can preserve the nutritional value of food since it doesn’t rely on a high heat during processing, but there’s not yet robust evidence on the nutritional profile of a new food like freeze-dried kimchi. She said flash freezing is another effective way to preserve the peak nutrients of a freshly harvested food.
For the consumer, these products are a convenient way to buy nutritious local produce outside the limited months of New England’s growing season.
“Especially here in New England, where we have such drastic seasons that impact how long we can grow food, any type of novel preservation technique is going to help us maximize our crops during the seasons where we can grow,” said Chadbourne.
The individual quick freezer Zydenbos acquired is different from a typical household freezer. It freezes produce in about 20 minutes as opposed to 48 hours, Zydenbos said. And rather than locking produce into one solid chunk, it freezes berries or broccoli as individual pieces, which makes it easier to use at home.
If freeze-dried kimchi seems a little out there, that’s a challenge Zydenbos has faced before. When she started her fermented food business in 2012, kimchi was still on the fringes of food culture in New England. Zydenbos said she had to work with state agencies as they learned how to regulate the food. Then she toured the state’s farmers markets educating consumers and evangelizing the benefits of fermented foods.
Even before that, there were her own doubts to overcome.
“When you first do it, you’re like, Oh, my god, this goes against everything that you’ve been taught,” she said. “You’re basically leaving vegetables out on the warm shelf to transform.”
“I’m going to kill somebody,” she remembers thinking while fermenting a batch for her own consumption after attending a kimchi-making workshop.
Zydenbos came to fermenting in search of healing. For years, she relied on copious quantities of probiotic supplements to ease digestive issues. When she started making kimchi, that became her new cure.
From there, a kimchi empire was born.
“In terms of somebody who really put it on the map in this region, I think Micro Mama’s is a huge player in that,” said Menard. He was the produce manager at the Concord Co-op when Zydenbos landed her account there. Menard said he hadn’t had kimchi before, but he was blown away by the flavor of her product, which was well received among the co-op’s customers.
By 2017, Zydenbos had built a facility in Weare on a property that had been in her family since the 1970s. The fermenting dens now contain 40,000 pounds of vegetables in production, all subject to strict federal and state safety regulations. She sourced stainless steel fermenting tanks from Italy and Germany to avoid using plastic containers.
When Whole Foods first came to New Hampshire, Zydenbos put her line of products forward – including kimchi, sauerkraut, and fermented carrots and beets, sourced from New Hampshire farms. The food safety work she had done with state agencies paid off, Zydenbos said, when she was able to show Whole Foods her quality control measures.
Now, with her new equipment, Zydenbos is planning to add freeze-dried kimchi to her lineup, as well as launch a spice line and food that will appeal to hikers, campers, and preppers.
“The possibilities are endless,” she said.
With the individual quick freezer, she can produce frozen carrots, beets, potatoes, and French-fry cut potatoes, which could be sold at local grocery stores or to New Hampshire restaurants.
Zydenbos views these efforts as a way to help farms access markets they haven’t been able to reach given a lack of processing equipment, licensing, or capital. She said the demand already exists.
Bruce Wooster of Picadilly Farm in Winchester, N.H., has been selling produce to Zydenbos for about five years. He said her new endeavor with flash frozen and freeze-dried produce could help growers extend their selling season.
“All the local farms have their crop coming all at once,” he said. “It can be tough to spread out those sales, but by freezing you can spread things out and not be like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to sell it this week before it spoils.’”
The Concord Food Co-op is one local grocery store that’s eager to include local frozen produce on its shelves.
“We have frozen vegetables that fly off the shelf,” said Josh Belanger, the store’s former general manager. “I think if we had them locally they’d do even better.”
Josh Marshall, assistant commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food, said the new equipment will help make more local food available.
“For a small producer to be able to buy directly from small, New Hampshire farmers, and do this, this seems relatively cutting edge,” Marshall said.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
CONCORD, NH — Concord fire and rescue teams, as well as the forestry unit, were sent to a homeless camp fire off Fort Eddy Road on Saturday morning.
Around 1 a.m., a Concord police officer, who was patrolling near the Everett Arena on Loudon Road, reported seeing a fire in the woods across the river. The officer told dispatch they thought it might be behind the former Shaw’s supermarket.
“It looks like a pretty large fire,” they said, “I’m going to head there.”
Police dispatch contacted Concord Fire Alarm, which sent firefighters and the forestry unit to the scene.
The first-arriving officer said the fire was behind Lowe’s, but the best access was from Fort Eddy Plaza. After additional police arrived, they entered the woods to find the camp. Firefighters then arrived at the scene.
After about 10 minutes, officers discovered the exact location of the camp and the fire and reported there were several people in the area.
The fire battalion commander said they would be sending in “a little bucket brigade to put it out.”
New Hampshire
Man From Weare Arrested On Stalking Charge After Gas Station Incident: Concord Police Log
CONCORD, NH — Kyle G. Sanders, born in 1988, of Manchester, was arrested at 11:03 a.m. on May 27 on a warrant. He was arrested at police headquarters.
Sean P. Lambert, born in 1992, of Concord, was arrested at 2:13 a.m. on May 25 on a bench warrant following an investigation or incident at the Durgin Block Garage at 17 School St.
Matthew C. Milne, born in 1980, of Concord, was arrested at 7:44 p.m. on May 24 on theft by unauthorized taking a felony due to two prior convictions, and willful concealment following an investigation or incident at the Speedway at 175 N. Main St.
Kristen L. Macrae, born in 1991, of Pittsfield, was arrested at 8:23 p.m. on May 23 on three warrants. She was arrested following an investigation or incident on Ferry Street.
Jeremiah J. Martel, born in 1978, of Weare, was arrested on a stalking charge at 7:01 p.m. on May 22 following an investigation or incident at the Shell gas station at 333 Loudon Road.
Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains how to request the removal of a name from New Hampshire Patch police reports.
Mark D. Yeskis, born in 1972, of Concord, was arrested at 7:52 p.m. on May 12 on criminal trespass and breach of bail charges. He was arrested following an investigation or incident at the Speedway gas station at 175 N. Main St.
Dakota Austin Marsh, born in 1994, of Concord, was arrested at 10:01 a.m. on May 12 on camping restricted and generic city ordinance violations following an investigation or incident on Pleasant Street Extension.
Dylan Joshua Lawler, born in 2001, of Deering, received a summons at 9:13 a.m. on May 12 on a conduct after an accident charge following an investigation or incident on Washington Street.
Dain Austin Blackadar Jr., born in 1990, of Concord, was arrested at 1:54 a.m. on May 12 on a bench warrant and two warrants. Also arrested was John L. Taylor, born in 1992, of Concord, on a warrant. They were both arrested following an investigation or incident on Ferry Street.
Matthew P. Lyons, born in 1969, of Concord, was arrested at 12:42 a.m. on May 12 on simple assault, domestic violence-simple assault, and criminal mischief charges. He was arrested following an investigation or incident on Alton Woods Drive.
Do you have a news tip? Email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube or Rumble channels. Patch in New Hampshire is now in 217 communities — and expanding every day. Also, follow Patch on Google Discover.
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