Senate President Soucy on Business Tax Triggers

Contact Name: Sara Persechino

Phone: (603) 271-3479

Email: Sara.Persechino@leg.state.nh.us

CONCORD – Today, Senate Republicans voted against pandemic protections for workers, trying to gut a bill dedicated to COVID relief and recovery to eviscerate a bipartisan budget agreement.

Senate President Donna Soucy (D-Manchester) issued the following statement in response:

“Senate Democrats are working hard to provide relief and recovery to thousands of Granite Staters impacted by COVID-19. It is disappointing that my Republican colleagues are more interested in helping big businesses than working families.

In our 2019 budget negotiations, the Legislature and Governor Sununu agreed to business tax triggers that would help to ensure the stability of our state government, and prevent downshifting of costs to property taxpayers. Any discussion about breaking that agreement is premature since we really don’t know the full impact on revenues. Businesses have rightly been granted an extension on their tax payments due to the state of emergency, and thus, the data needed to have an informed conversation and make a decision in the best interest of New Hampshire will not be available for months.

An amendment brought forward by Senator Morse and Senator Bradley is not about small business protections--it is about protecting large corporations. At the present time, the Legislature is focused on the issues we are currently facing as a state, including protections for workers and homeowners. We agree that no tax payer, including our small businesses, should be responsible for bearing the cost of this crisis and when the time comes, we will have that conversation with accurate, and timely data.”

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