Opinion: How a top-earners tax can rescue NH property taxpayers — and protect our classrooms

Every fall, when property tax bills arrive in mailboxes across the state, homeowners experience the same sticker shock. We are repeatedly told New Hampshire is a “low-tax state” because we have no general income tax. But for the majority of Granite Staters who do not make a high salary, New Hampshire isn’t low-tax at all — it simply shifts the entire burden onto our homes. New Hampshire relies more heavily on local property taxes to fund public K-12 schools than any other state in the country. Between local school district warrants and the Statewide Education Property Tax (SWEPT), property owners shoulder roughly 70% of the cost of public education. Local school boards are trapped in an impossible fiscal vise. Because school boards cannot legally cut special education services, reduce contracted health benefits or stop busing students, they have very little maneuverability.

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