Tax avalanche will bury us in 2011
Property taxes going up 14%; state and federal taxes increasing as well  

Elections have consequences. 

Over the last 10 years or so, voters in Goffstown have supported nearly all requested spending proposals by our elected school and town officials. This has included road plans, a new kindergarten, hefty unions contracts, land purchases and more.  Early on, when times were good, the folly of such unabated spending had yet to be realized.

But eventually, we must all pay the piper.  A crippling school budget that has nearly doubled over the last ten years is the biggest reason that when the tax man cometh in December, he will do so with a vengeance.  That vengeance is a 14 percent increase in our property taxes.

But it doesn't stop there.

Remember the fall of 2008 when the bottom was beginning to fall out of our economy?  Well, many voters suddenly jumped on the "Change" bandwagon, putting free-spending democrats in charge of the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives and our state government.  And now, those "changes" that many voted for are unfolding before our very eyes in the form of massive growth of government spending and huge budget deficits.  Similar to a night of wild partying in Las Vegas nightclubs, the reality of paying for these excesses is now beginning to come due.

NEW STATE TAXES

At the state level, democrats in Concord have created or increased 38 taxes and fees, ranging everywhere from campsite taxes to car and boat registrations.  The total of these new increases, aimed at offsetting their unchecked spending, is over $161 million next year alone.  

NEW FEDERAL TAXES

And at the federal level, the democrats will be allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire.  Based on a percentage of increase, you can add the following to your overall tax burden beginning in 2011:

• Federal income tax rates will increase anywhere from 10 percent to 50 percent (depending on your tax bracket);

• Capital gains taxes will increase by 33 percent;

• Taxes on dividends will increase 164 percent;

• The marriage penalty will be making a comeback;

• Medicare taxes will increase for those making more than $200,000 per year;

• The "death tax" will go from nothing to 55 percent of anything over $1 million.

As a simple exercise, just apply these percentage increases to your rent, food, fuel, utility costs and see what your monthly budgets will look like.  These tax increases are not theoretical; nor will they affect just "the rich" as democrats want us to believe. 

They will affect all of us in one way or another.

With the economy still teetering on the brink of a double-dip recession, unemployment still in double digits, the last thing we need is 
another $114 billion taken out of our pockets next year and $2.6 trillion confiscated in the next nine years.  

And that's only the federal tax impact.  At the current rate of spending, our own school budget, which doubles every 10 years, will reach half a billion (yes, billion) dollars by the time our 5th grade students at Maple Ave and Bartlett elementary schools reach the age of 50. 

You cannot take this much money out of the economy - and out of the hands of individuals - and expect no tidal effect.  Even some Democrats are beginning to realize the coming tax tsunami will drown any chances for an economic recovery in the next decade.

The confiscation and redistribution of wealth is in full force at every level of government.  This is the change that was promised by democrats, and so far, they are succeeding at accomplishing it. 

But we can change all of this beginning in November and ending in March.

As we saw at the Town Deliberative session back in February, a single vote can affect everyone's taxes.  There's a reason we have local, state and national elections.  Those elections - and your single vote - DO make a difference to us all.

Elections have consequences, whether at the national, state or local levels.  Let's hope that the upcoming state and national elections in November we can correct the disastrous direction in which New Hampshire and our country has moved in the past two years.

Then, come March, we must vote out those local Goffstown officials who have no consideration whatsoever to the plight of their constituents and persistently propagate repeated campaigns of pushing nice-to-have, fluff-laden budgets. 

If we don't, the forthcoming avalanche of new taxes will bury us all next year.

Guy Caron can be reached via e-mail at: GuyC@GoffstownResidentsAssociation.com

Past Columns by Guy Caron  >>>