More truth about New Hampshire

The hysterical tax opponents have been proven wrong again.

They tried to tell us that if we raised the gas tax people would flock over the border to buy gas...then New Hampshire raised their gas tax by 15 cents.

They tried to tell us that we shouldn't put tolls up at the border, despite the fact that New Hampshire already has tolls on every highway crossing the border.

Some even suggested that we can't raise meal taxes because we'd lose business to our northern neighbors, even though New Hampshire's meal taxes are already 60% higher than ours.

And now New Hampshire has approved a 45-cent per pack cigarette tax hike, diluting their argument that all of our smokers flee for the border when they need to restock.

Can we please stop worrying about what New Hampshire is doing and concentrate on fixing things here in the commonwealth?

Tags: Massachusetts New Hampshire Taxes

The Mass-N.H. DMZ

Is there some sort of lawless, unclaimed swath of land between the commonwealth and our neighbors to the north? WBZ news suggests there is:

About 10 yards away from the town of Methuen is the tax free state of New Hampshire. That's why a sales tax increase is a tough sell with politicians representing border areas. "The sales tax is always a tough sell along the border," said Sen. Sue Tucker of Lawrence.

I wonder what is in that 30-foot wide swath between Methuen and N.H. Perhaps a Utopian land where those who set foot pay no taxes on alcohol, gas, income, property, or anything else. Or maybe that area is doubly taxed, which might suggest why no one lives there. Perhaps it is part of Canada, or has seceded like Texas hopes to.

I can't wait for channel 4's follow-up article on this mysterious place.

Tags: Massachusetts New Hampshire Methuen WBZ Sales Tax

Mass. Republicans duped by New Hampshire

Oh, those mindless contrarians that make up the Mass. GOP. They are so eager to oppose any and everything that Deval Patrick and Democrats even sniff at that they don't realize when they are being used. Case in point, their touting of a "Border Coalition" made up of New Hampshire and Massachusetts legislators who are opposed to new tolls on I-93. From the official Senate Republican Web site:

Sen. Robert L. Hedlund and Sen. Scott P. Brown were among the Massachusetts and New Hampshire legislators who gathered today on the State House steps to voice their opposition to additional tolls on Interstate 93....

“We initiated this coalition to stop a border war among the states,” said New Hampshire Rep. Frank V. Sapareto, who represents District 5 in Rockingham. Rep. Sapareto was joined by Rep. Al Baldasaro, Rep. Frank R. Emiro, Rep. Anthony DiFruscia, and Rep. Margaret Crisler. All are Republicans.

The legislators argued that tolls on Interstate 93 could also lead to toll plazas on Interstate 95, Route 3, and Route 1 in order to prevent drivers from circumventing the toll plazas.

Well that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it. Or at least it makes sense if you are in New Hampshire. Of course New Hampshire doesn't want new tolls on I-93, I-95, or route 3...because New Hampshire already has tolls on all three of those roads. Take a look at this handy map I have produced showing tolls on those three highways. I've marked the tolls with the word "TOLL" in large, Republican red letters so that our minority legislators might more easily notice:

See, unless you are heading to Hampton Beach, the Pheasant Lane Mall, the Rockingham Mall, or the Mall of New Hampshire (you know, because you're from Massachusetts you must shop in New Hampshire to save pennies in sales tax), the state of New Hampshire is already charging you tolls on the only three highways that go north out of Massachusetts.

New Hampshire doesn't want Massachusetts to put up new tolls, it wants to continue it's monopoly on border toll revenue. And New Hampshire is more than happy to let our Republican legislators carry its water.

If that wasn't mindless enough, you'll notice that our Republican senators are worried that someone might put a toll booth on route 1. Clearly, whoever wrote this release has never driven route 1 near the border, or they would have realized that it looks like this:


Yup, our Republican legislators are trying to scare you into believing that Massachusetts (or New Hampshire) is going to try to put a toll on a two-lane suburban road. Not only are they willing to do New Hampshire's bidding, but they think we're too stupid to notice.

Tags: Massachusetts New Hampshire Republican State House

Motorists will not go to NH to avoid gas tax

Before anyone falls for another round of "Massachusetts consumers will flee to New Hampshire because of our taxes," please do just a little research. When focusing on Governor Patrick's proposed 19 cent per gallon increase, understand that gas in Massachusetts will not be 19 cents more expensive than in the Granite State if the New Hampshire legislature has its way. From the Manchester Union Leader (via MSNBC):

A gasoline tax bill won a bipartisan 14-3 vote for passage in the Public Works and Highways Committee last week.

The bill, raising the tax five cents per gallon in each of the next three years, moves to the full House next.

Get that? New Hampshire is looking to add 15 cents to its gas tax. Raise your hand if you've heard about that in any story about the impact of an increase in the Massachusetts gas tax. Again, the lesson should be to never listen to anyone who worries more about New Hampshire than Massachusetts. They are not being honest with you.

And if the commonwealth would adopt my plan, our gas tax would increase less than New Hampshire's.

Tags: Massachusetts Deval Patrick New Hampshire Gas Tax

Mitt Romney's NH tax grab

A couple of weeks ago, reports surfaced that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue was trying to collect taxes on purchases that Massachusetts residences made at Town Fair Tire stores in New Hampshire. The backlash was predictable. It was also warranted. Simple fairness suggests to me that it is a bad idea to collect taxes for purchases made in another state; and I'm sure that if this case went to the Supreme Court it would be ruled a violation of the commerce clause.

But because the story surfaced during a rollout of other tax proposals, there was an assumption in some quarters that this was some sort of Deval Patrick scheme to chase people across the border for their taxes. For instance, this post at the most prominent Republican blog in the state:

Governor Deval Patrick's (D-MA) Administration has ordered Town Fair Tire a Connecticut company with 5 stores in NH and 25 stores in Massachusetts to collect Massachusetts sales tax on Massachusetts residents purchases in New Hampshire....

If I were Governor John Lynch I'd be getting the National Guard ready. Governor Patrick has just declared war on your retail economy.

The post quotes from a Boston Globe article detailing the issue. Being the curious sort, I decided to read the article for myself. Buried in there was this point, which seems to be lost on Republican critics (emphasis mine):

The Town Fair Tire legal battle dates back to 2003, when the Massachusetts Department of Revenue audited the three New Hampshire stores Town Fair Tire operated at the time, after receiving evidence that Bay State residents were driving up to buy tires and having them installed at the chain's shops....

Following the audit, Massachusetts authorities assessed the company about $108,947 in tax, penalties, and interest related to the sales.

Lest we forget, Mitt Romney was the governor of the commonwealth in 2003. Mitt Romney's Department of Revenue came up with the plan. It was part of Romney's effort to raise fees and squeeze out other drops of revenue so that he could boast that he did not raise "taxes" in order to balance the budget.

Deval Patrick's administration should publically announce that they are stoppping the effort to collect cross-border taxes. Democrats need to tell the truth about this policy. Something like this:

Mitt Romney's Republican policy of collecting Massachuetts sales tax in New Hampshire shows the lengths Republicans will go to be dishonest about our state's fiscal needs. Instead of having an honest dialogue about our need to raise revenues and pay the Big Dig debts left by 16 years of Republican governors, Romney Republicans in the legislature would rather raid New Hampshire businesses. We should work together to solve our funding crisis instead of resorting to the Romney Republican tax raids.

One other thing...the next time Mitt Romney runs for president, he should be asked over and over again from Keene to Laconia why he wanted to impose a Massachusetts sales tax on New Hampshire businesses.

Tags: Massachusetts Deval Patrick Sales Tax Mitt Romney New Hampshire

Hillary wins a stunner. Game on!

There is an old saying in sports that a seven-game series isn't really contested until the home team loses a game. I guess that's not the perfect metaphor--since none of the candidates is at home in New Hampshire--but in this case, the primary season isn't really contested until the front runner loses.

Now we have a race.

Like many, I expected that the game would nearly be over tonight. With the expected big Obama victory, the question going into tonight was whether or not Hillary would even survive until the February primaries. Well, now it looks like not only will she survive, but she'll be at least even with Obama.

This election just keeps getting more and more interesting.

Tags: Election 2008 Democratic Primary Barack Obama Hillary Clinton New Hampshire

McCain and Obama to win N.H., Romney survives

Quick predictions on tonight’s election results from New Hampshire. First the Republicans:

McCain........34%
Romney.......32%
Paul...........13%
Huckabee.....10%
Giuliani.........5%
Thompson......4%
Others..........2%

I had originally thought Mitt Romney would be finished if he lost here. But now I’m not so sure. He’ll probably be able to spin the result as a virtual tie, and try to get his first win in Michigan next week, which could set up an interesting dynamic.

Where exactly do we stand if Romney, John McCain and Mike Huckabee have each claimed one state going into the back-to-back primaries in South Carolina and Florida? And let’s say for a moment that Rudy Giuliani is able to win in Florida, which he is counting on in order to stay in the game into February? Could we have four “front-runners” going into February 5? Could the nomination still be up for grabs after that date?

And does Paul get a boost by finishing in the top three?

The Democrats look to be a far less muddled picture:

Obama........43%
Clinton........33%
Edwards.......15%
Richardson.....6%
Kucinich........2%
Others..........1%

It ought to be over tonight with a 10-point win for Barack Obama. John Edwards will probably hang on through South Carolina, hoping that he can beat out Hillary Clinton there and be the last opponent for Obama going into February 5. I’m guessing Clinton is in the race to February one way or the other, since she has support in some of the big states of the Northeast and in California. But regaining footing after another big loss might be impossible. I see two potential wildcards:

What does Richardson do before Nevada? He has a lot of support from the unions there and could sway the outcome in that state if he drops out. If the unions throw their support behind Clinton, does she have a chance to stop the bleeding with a win there? Does Edwards gain their votes and push Clinton to the margins?

The other issue is what to do with Florida. If Clinton is desperate for a win before February 5, does she defy the party (who has pledged to shut out Florida’s delegates because they scheduled their primary too early) and campaign hard in Florida? Maybe a win in a crucial swing state would give her momentum going into February even if the result is cosmetic.

But all of that is probably moot unless Obama commits a huge blunder. After tonight, he will have an air of inevitability around him that should easily carry him to the nomination.

Tags: Election 2008 Democratic Primary John Edwards Barack Obama Hillary Clinton Republican Mitt Romney Mike Huckabee Ron Paul John McCain New Hampshire

Huckabee wins...

...the endorsement race, not New Hampshire.

But which candidate do you want: the one who will kick his enemies in the groin,

or the one who will serve them tasty warm oatmeal?

Tags: Election 2008 Republican Primary Mike Huckabee John McCain Chuck Norris Wilford Brimley New Hampshire

As I was saying...

I feel pretty good about my predictions last night. I nailed the Republican side with the exception of Fred Thompson.

Candidate....Me....Actual
Huckabee......34..........34
Romney.........27..........25
McCain.........16...........13
Paul.............10...........10
Thompson.......7...........13
Giuliani...........5............4

I was off on the Democratic side, getting John Edwards and Barack Obama flip-flopped. I also greatly overestimated the ability of the bottom four candidates to be viable. But I did correctly predict Hillary Clinton would finish third.

So what's next? Armageddon in New Hampshire. Neither Mitt Romney or John McCain can afford to lose New Hampshire. The loser is out. On the Democratic side if Obama wins, it's over. If Clinton or Edwards wins, we're in for the long haul.

The campaign over the next four days is going to be incredibly brutal, starting with tomorrow night's debates. I can't believe I'm writing this, but it's a tossup right now whether or not I watch the debates or stay with the NFL playoff game.

Tags: Election 2008 Democratic Primary John Edwards Barack Obama Hillary Clinton Republican Mitt Romney Fred Thompson Mike Huckabee Ron Paul John McCain New Hampshire

Not fit for office

John McCain: "We need to have Curt Schilling as president of the President's Council on Fitness."

Does this guy look like the poster boy for fitness?



Tags: 2008 New Hampshire Primary Election John McCain Curt Schilling Republican