Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!
One of the hallmarks of New Hampshire government is its insistence on maintaining low personal and business tax burdens. To that end, there’s no broad-based standard income, sales or estate tax. Inventory, capital gains, and professional services are also tax-free.Unlike other New England states, however, New Hampshire maintains two major business taxes. The first to be instituted was the Business Profits Tax (BPT). But since the bulk of the state’s businesses range from the small-to-very-small, larger firms complained they were shouldering the bulk of the tax burden. So 1993, the Legislature instituted the Business Enterprise Tax (BET). As Jennifer Weiner writes in “How Does New Hampshire Do It?,” a report released by the Boston Federal Reserve, the BET taxes “wages and salaries, interests and dividends paid by businesses.” In other words, it is, technically, an income tax, but the burden’s placed on businesses, rather than individuals. At 0.75 percent, the BET is also a lower rate than a standard state income tax.The other major piece of New Hampshire’s revenue pie is property tax. Residents pay both a state and town property tax. In 2010, Kiplinger’s reports the State Education Income Tax was “$2.35…per $1,000 of total equalized valuation.” Town rates, meanwhile, can vary widely across the state. If you don’t combine New Hampshire’s two business taxes, property tax makes up the largest slice of revenue, at 16 percent.Another notable aspect of New Hampshire’s tax system, as Weiner notes in the Boston Fed report, is that it’s highly diversified. No one tax makes up 20 percent of money coming in. Other major state taxes include Meals and Rooms, Tobacco, Liquor Sales and Distribution, Real Estate Transfer, Interest and Dividends, Insurance Premium, Communications, and Utility Property Taxes.Summary provided by StateImpact NH

It's Earned Income Tax Day, Who Knew?

David Rebber via/ Flickr Creative Commons

There’s National Pi Day...that’s P-I for the mathematicians.

There’s talk like a Pirate Day....ARRRGH... and then there’s today- January 27th, the IRS’s Earned Income Tax Credit Day.

Who knew?

Usually infomercials sound too good to be true, right?

“The Ginsu 2000 can saw a lead pipe and still slice a tomato like this. The legend is back..” 

You expect this kind of shtick from a company peddling steak knives.

But the IRS?

“Oh the things you would do if you just had some extra money, right? Well, maybe you do have money waiting for you....At the IRS....You’re kidding, right?”

They’re not.

The IRS says every year taxpayers leave billions of on the table.

The Earned Income Tax Credit is for low and moderate wage earners.... like Candy Robarge.

“I just received a bill in from my son’s college that was $8000 dollars and I almost chocked.”

Money’s so tight for the hair salon owner; she and her son constantly unplug everything from the toaster to the T.V., to save on electric.

But thanks to the Earned Income Tax Credit, she’s got enough to pay that bill off.

“It’s a relief for me. I’m going to be able to help my son.”

“But wait, there’s more.”

Not only is Robarge keeping her kid in school.

With this cushion, she’s even started a little Roth IRA.

So call now to learn more about.... um, I mean...

 

Related Content

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.