NH Lawmakers Ignore on
View Tax Petition
Editorial by Tom Thomson
July 24, 2007
For the past year and a half I have worked with thousands of
taxpayers across New Hampshire on an issue called the “View Tax”. Over six
thousand of you took the time to get involved and signed the petition requesting
the New Hampshire Legislature, Senate and Governor to pass two bills (1) HB 804
to eliminate the view assessment from the property of our taxpayers and (2) HB
761 requesting that all assessors, assessing the property of our hard working
taxpayers, be licensed and held accountable.
HB 804 was killed in the Municipal and County Government Committee
chaired by Representative Robert Theberge, Democrat from Berlin.
HB761 was killed in the Executive Departments and Administration
Committee chaired by Representative Anne-Marie Irwin, Democrat from
Peterborough.
Many taxpayers have been calling, writing and e-mailing me asking for an update
on these two bills: Here’s my response!
HB 804 was killed simply because the committee believed that if you have
a view, even though you don’t own the view and you have no control over it, you
should be assessed for it. What’s most disturbing is that the NH Assessing
Standards Board (ASB) and the Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) do not
have a clear definition for Assessors as to what a view is in NH. Therefore, ten
Assessors could and probably do come up with ten different answers as to what a
view should be assessed at. Taxpayers also need to know that the ASB and DRA
allow assessors to assess property owners in NH for “Potential Views”. Hard to
believe, but it’s happening in NH today!
Licensing of Assessors Is Not Required
HB 761 was also killed, which in my opinion was an insult to the
taxpayers of New Hampshire. This bill would have licensed assessors who assess
your home and property, which for most folks is the largest single asset that we
own in our lifetime. If you check you will find that nearly any profession in
New Hampshire is licensed and they are held accountable with an independent
licensing board. The hair dresser who cuts your hair has to be licensed in New
Hampshire but the assessor doesn’t. I recently had our septic tank pumped and
learned that the “Septage Hauler” has to be licensed, but assessors who
assess our homes don’t have to be licensed! What’s wrong with this
picture?
On March 27th, the Executive Department and Administration voted 14 to 0 to kill
HB 761. All but one person who testified at the hearing before this
committee was in favor of “licensing”.
Petition With Over 6,000 Signatures Ignored
I personally handed a complete list of signatures, (4 inches thick) of New
Hampshire taxpayers who had signed the petition, to Chairman Irwin. This was one
of the largest petition drives supporting a piece of legislation in many
years. Not one New Hampshire appraiser came to the hearing to speak against the
bill yet three ASB public members came to support passage of this important
bill.
On April 2, 2007 I sent a letter, certified return receipt to Chairman Irwin
requesting an explanation as to why her committee voted 14 to 0 against the
bill, knowing that 6000 plus New Hampshire taxpayers requested her committee
to support the HB 761. I also asked her to please send me any written testimony
received from any individual, organizations or state agencies on this bill. My
letter was also copied to Governor Lynch.
It has been over three and a half months since this certified return
receipt letter was signed for by Chairman Irwin’s staff and over 6,000 NH
taxpayers are still waiting for a response from Chairman Irwin.
There has been a complete change in Concord this past year and you the hard
working taxpayer’s who signed one of the largest state-wide petition drives in
the last 30 years requesting your elected officials to pass important
legislation such as HB 804 and 761 have been “Ignored”!
I would encourage you to call, write or e-mail the two Chairs, Representative
Theberge and Irwin along with Governor Lynch, and ask them why you have been
“Ignored”? Their contact information is listed below:
1. Governor John Lynch, State House, Concord, NH 03301 Phone
1-603-271-2121 E-Mail:
governorlynch@nh.gov
2. Representative Robert Theberge, PO Box 271, Berlin, NH 03570-0271
Phone 1-603-752-5672 E-Mail:
rolath@msn.com
3. Representative Anne-Marie Irwin, 10 highland Drive, Peterborough, NH
03458-1259 Phone 1-603-924-6617 E-Mail
anne-marie.irwin@leg.state.nh.us
Perhaps you will have better luck getting a response than I did. I hope so. We,
the taxpayers deserve nothing less.
Sincerely yours,
Thomas Thomson