NEW HAMPSHIRE TAX PAYERS IGNORED

NEW HAMPSHIRE TAX PAYERS IGNORED!

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!

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”.

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 thiscertified 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