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Rick Ganley: I want to ask you first and foremost, and I think this is getting the most play in the media, the child tax benefit for families and this new benefit. What do we know about how many families are going to qualify for this benefit? And, you know, what s the possible impact here in New Hampshire?
Phil Sletten: Yeah, so the national numbers I ve heard is that it s the vast majority of families, a large percentage of households that have children. Of course, not every household has children, but for those that do, it s a relatively high income limit. It would encompass most households in New Hampshire and most around the country. And the really interesting thing about the child tax credit, because I should say there are two components. There is the economic impact payments, the $1,400 checks, which will include checks for qualifying dependents such as children. So there s that one time infusion.
New Hampshire school-funding bill gets a closer look before House panel
Ways and Means Committee to consider boosting property tax relief
March 2, 2021
The House Ways and Means Committee will be holding a work session on Wednesday to look at a bill that’s an ougtrowth of the Commission to Study School Funding’s recommendations, which sought to craft a plan to provide more equitable opportunity for schoolchildren while more equitable treatment of property taxpayers.
House Bill 504, sponsored by Rep. Dick Ames, a Democrat from Jaffrey who served on the commission, would significantly increase the property tax relief offered to low- and moderate-income homeowners. At the same time, the bill adds to the controversy around so-called “donor towns,” those municipalities where the statewide education property tax, or SWEPT, raises more revenue than needed to fund their schools. Since 2011 they have been allowed to retain the excess.
My Turn: Why isn’t food insecurity among governor’s budget priorities?
Published: 2/18/2021 6:01:32 AM
Last week, Gov. Chris Sununu outlined his proposed budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. As I read the transcript, I kept waiting for him to mention the food and nutrition assistance programs that have been so vital to the hundreds of thousands of food-insecure Granite Staters who have weathered all that this pandemic could throw at them.
Reaching the end of Sununu’s speech, I realized that he hadn’t even spoken the word “food,” let alone acknowledged the existence of chronic food insecurity in the state, and the thousands of volunteer hours that people have contributed to hunger prevention efforts this year.
NH Business Review
But amid hopeful forecasts come warnings of inequitable recovery
January 21, 2021
Photo by Paula Tracy/InDepthNH.org
State budget writers heard optimism over future growth from experts, but also concerns low wage growth among the middle and lower classes and housing affordability may slow the expansion.
The members of the state House and Senate Ways and Means Committees heard two days of testimony as they begin determining how much money the state may spend in the next biennium.
The lawmakers heard how the state budget is faring in the current fiscal year; about economic trends, projections and concerns; local business health, and other local and federal impacts influencing state revenue over the next two fiscal years.