By PAULA TRACY
and GARRY RAYNO
InDepthNH.org

CONCORD — The legislature has passed a business enterprise tax cut which Democrats claim can only mean that property taxpayers will pick up the difference.

A House and Senate Committee of Conference came to an agreement on House Bill 155, and it passed on partisan lines with the Republicans holding the majority of votes in both chambers. It now goes to the governor for her signature into law or veto.

House Minority Leader Alexis Simpson, D-Exeter, opposed the report although she supported raising the filing threshold from $250,000 to $400,000 which will exempt about 4,500 businesses from having to file.

Her concern was the provision added to the bill that would automatically reduce the rate of the BET by 0.05% when business profits and enterprise tax returns are $100 million over estimates for the fiscal year.

The current rate is 0.55% and has been lowered over the last decade from 0.75%. The original rate when the tax was established in the early 1990s was 0.25% which would be the floor in House Bill 155.

Simpson said the bill would tie the hands of future legislators even when they struggle to make ends meet.

“Our property taxes are the highest in the country but there is no plan to reduce their costs. This will make it worse,” she said. “Corporate taxes get cut first, not property taxes, not the rooms and meals tax, not all the fees raised in the last budget.”

Corporate taxes have been cut nine times in the last decade, Simpson said. “Get in line behind Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk,” she said. “They get their tax cut, but you don’t. I can’t think of a worse message to send or a worse policy to enact.”

Rep. John Janigian, R-Salem, noted the minimum threshold level was raised helping small businesses while having only about a $2.5 million impact on revenues.

He touted the “trigger” that would reduce the rate when business tax revenues were at least $100 million more than anticipated, which he called a high wall to climb.

He noted the original rate was 0.25% and has been going up ever since. The rate was raised from 0.25% to 0.75% in 1999 for additional revenue to help address the Claremont school funding court rulings.

“This shows New Hampshire is open for business,” Janigian said. The bill passed the House on a 195-157 vote.

The Senate also passed the committee of conference amendments along partisan lines with Democrats objecting.

State Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, said she regretted that she had to rise to oppose the bill because there is some nursing home tax relief but she said other aspects of the bill are “reckless and irresponsible” and could potentially cost hundreds of millions in future years and put at risk the state’s ability to pay for Medicaid.

“Jeff Bezos does not need another tax cut,” she said, referring to the founder of Amazon. “I think we often focus only on the short term when we should be thinking several years down the road,” she said. Ultimately, the bill is about shifting the burden to property taxpayers.

State Sen. Donovan Fenton, D-Keene, also rose in opposition to the conference committee report, saying “it does a whole lot for Wall Street,” and gives another “leg up to Walmart and Amazon.” It comes at a time, he said, “when our constituencies are struggling right now.”

State Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, said the committee of conference on this bill was a lot about making sausages but the Senate got better funding for nursing home rates.

State Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, said there are some pieces that she could support but it was not ready for passage. She said she had not seen a fiscal note and argued there was not a hearing.

She said what small businesses want is housing for their employees, childcare, and “I think you need to look at what kind of an environment we are in,” with gas prices at record highs, within a statewide housing crisis. Lang said there was a hearing on the tax cut.

ROSENWALD AND WARD PRAISED FOR THEIR SERVICE

Both retiring State Sens. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, and Ruth Ward, R-Stoddard, were honored for their service.
It has been a difficult decision, Ward said. Her husband retired from his volunteer job and she had a schedule. She said she was forced to evaluate her options.

“My plan is to stay active in one way or another,” Ward said.

Rosenwald and her husband are moving out of Nashua to Dover to be closer to family. She thanked staff and her colleagues for their service.

RICCIARDI CONTINUES TO HEAL AFTER SEVERE CONCUSSION

State Sen. Denise Ricciardi, R-Bedford, was excused for the day, as she has been for the past month, as she continues to recover from a fall and a severe concussion.