I felt it necessary to provide some factual input for your article “Second Home, Second Tax.” My wife and I bought our house in Dublin, initially as a second home, about 10 years ago. The majority of taxes in New Hampshire are on properties. We paid those taxes and spent a significant amount of money locally.
We moved to Dublin full-time about six years ago. Since we require few governmental services, we are, and have been, a net contributor to the budgets of Dublin and New Hampshire.
It is discriminatory to treat taxpayers differently based on their residency. Rep. Ellen Read says that “you don’t have a right to keep it (second home) out of the rental market without paying something back into the state, because you are actively harming the state.” This is an uneducated statement since owners of second homes pay as much as full-time residents and cost the government significantly less. Vilifying individuals who are exercising their legal rights is outrageous.
New Hampshire’s high property taxes are caused by excessive spending on public education. Dublin spends approximately $40,000 per student. This accounts for two-thirds of Dublin’s budget. This is the problem which needs to be addressed by our political system. I chaired the Dublin Education Advisory Committee. We were appalled by the growth of spending in the face of declining enrollment. New Hampshire is #8 among states in per-student spending. People can disagree about the source of funding but not the amount. It might be a bit more palatable if ConVal were providing an excellent education. Sadly, this is not the case as test scores are below state goals in all categories.
We need to work together solving the real problems rather than disseminating insults.