In a recent op-ed piece Speaker of the NH House Terie Norelli did an excellent job of co-opting a philosophy that House Republicans have been espousing for three years: one of low taxes and decreased spending.  The speaker of the house claims she is concerned with “striking a delicate balance between protecting services and taxpayers,” and yet she has stood by over the last three years as general fund appropriations (i.e. spending) have increased by almost 25% under her leadership as the deficit continues to grow.

When she wrote, “…we were able to increase aid to communities,” was she forgetting about the $50M in general revenue sharing or the $15M in rooms and meals revenue sharing that were reduced by Democrats?  Did she intentionally overlook the $131M that they downshifted back to the cities and towns—a move that severely impacted the local property taxpayer?

When Speaker Norelli talks of, “working hard to craft a responsible budget,” is she intentionally overlooking the more than 40 taxes and fees that Democrats either created or raised to pay for their so-called “responsible budget?”  They increased the Rooms and Meals Tax, including a 9 per cent tax on campers; they created a new tax on gambling winnings, a new tax on small business, and increased vehicle registration fees, among others. Their mantra of “let’s increase spending and then create more taxes to pay for it” has to stop.

In the midst of a major recession, at a time when our families are feeling the pinch in their personal budgets, and at a time when most other states reduced their budgets by an average of 2.5 percent,  Democrats chose to increase state spending by more than 6 percent.  In tossing the word “responsible” around, was Speaker Norelli forgetting the more than $400M in one-time money they relied upon to balance their budget—money that quite simply won’t be there when we sit down to craft the next budget?  When she mentions the Republicans’ “simplistic” offer of across the board cuts, what she fails to point out is the fact that House Republicans offered specific reductions in departments that submitted requested budget data and across-the-board cuts in those that refused to cooperate.

In November, 2006 the people of this State handed the Democrats control of the NH House for the first time in several generations, and  in just three years, we find ourselves faced with a half-billion dollar deficit as a result of what they term, “a responsible budget.”  We have witnessed drastic fiscal and policy changes that have placed our state into such a large fiscal hole that we find ourselves on the brink of having to enact an income tax.  It should come as no surprise that both Speaker Norelli and Rep. Susan Almy, the chair of House Ways and Means, recently re-introduced the idea of an Income Tax into the public forum.

It is clear that whoever is in charge of the budget the next time around will start with over a half billion dollar deficit because of the utilization of one-time money and the excessive spending by the Democrats.  As we move forward, the people of New Hampshire can be assured of only one thing; the Democrats’ solutions to the problems facing our state will be “more of the same” and will only serve to create an even larger deficit,  destroying  what has made our state so special.  Hopefully the people of New Hampshire are done being fooled.