Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A tax cap would be good for Croydon.

As far as spending goes the selectman of Croydon have been keeping spending below the rate of inflation and that is wonderful. With this years reassessment and the cost of heating fuel it would be wise for the people of Croydon to pass a tax and spending cap to ensure spending remains below the rate of inflation.

Cathy Peschke

Tipping the cap: Voters get to decide


Manchester will have a tax and spending cap on the ballot this fall, thanks to the efforts of Rep. Mike Biundo, Tammy Simmons and their volunteers at the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition.

The group did an excellent job obtaining the 4,000 signatures needed to put the cap to a vote of the people. Now it will be up to the public to decide whether to restrain city taxing and spending.

The cap is an amendment to the city charter. If approved, it would prohibit the city from raising spending at a rate higher than the previous year's inflation rate. The property tax rate would be allowed to rise no higher than the rate of inflation combined with the net increase in new construction in the city.


Manchester residents have suffered through more than a decade of perpetual tax increases. Those tax hikes are the direct result of overspending at City Hall. The tax and spending cap might not put an end to tax hikes. But it would prevent them from being as large as they were under Mayor Bob Baines, who proposed a series of huge, tax-hiking budgets that continue to burden the people to this day.

The taxpayers of this city have fought in vain for years to restrain spending at City Hall. This tax and spending cap would give them an excellent tool for achieving that goal. We are glad to see it on the ballot, and we urge voters to approve it.


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