Osborne: New Hampshire House Democrats' Tax-Hike Agenda Is Hiding In Plain Sight

By Jason Osborne, NH Journal

Last week, House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson sat down with WMUR and told Granite Staters exactly what a Democrat majority would mean for this state: more government spending, more government control, and a bigger tax bill handed to every family in New Hampshire.

She didn’t have to say it in so many words. Her party’s voting record already said it for her. The absolute last thing Granite Staters need is a government hell-bent on reaching deeper into their pockets. What they need — what they deserve — is a government that gets out of their way and trusts them to run their own lives.

Look at what House Democrats actually did this year, because their record is not ambiguous. They voted for this stuff with a straight face. In 2026 alone, House Democrats voted for more than $3.98 billion in tax hikes on the people of this state.

Their very first act of the session was an attempt to suspend House rules to fast-track a $640 million tax hike before the ink on their swearing-in was even dry. From there, it only escalated: a $1.94 billion property tax increase, a $70 million hike on meals and rooms, and a proposed $1.27 billion in new income taxes.

I’d ask Leader Simpson directly: How, precisely, does forcing Granite Staters to surrender $3.98 billion make life more affordable for a single one of them?

If we had to pay the bill House Democrats proposed this year, it would amount to $2,843 per year per resident. That’s real money coming out of household budgets already stretched thin by rising property tax bills and the cost of just getting by.

This spring confirmed once again what we already knew: Democrats will not hesitate to raise taxes.

They stood in front of the State House and unveiled their “3-3 Plan” for Granite State taxpayers: more than a billion dollars in new income taxes paired with a billion dollars in new property taxes.

Republicans have never blinked on the income tax question, and we didn’t blink this time either. We introduced the New Hampshire Advantage Amendment, which would have let voters decide, permanently and constitutionally, to keep an income tax out of this state forever. It was a simple proposition: Let the people choose.

Leader Simpson called it “too hasty” and demanded a public hearing. We obliged. We held the hearing. We reserved a front-row seat for her and her deputy leader as a courtesy. She didn’t show up to defend her own objection. And when the amendment finally reached the floor, Democrats voted it down — twice — making clear in the process that they don’t trust the voters of this state to make this decision for themselves.

Their explanation was that banning an income tax would be a “disaster.” I’d suggest the only disaster here is a legislative minority so detached from the people they represent that they would deny them a vote on their own tax future.

While Democrats were busy protecting their path to an income tax, House Republicans were busy delivering. We passed the Taxpayer Protection Act, giving voters the authority to cap their own local property taxes. We ended the mandatory vehicle inspection racket that has been quietly draining hundreds — and often thousands — of dollars a year from working families for no measurable safety benefit. We passed the Small Business Relief Act, exempting more small businesses from the burden of filing the Business Enterprise Tax and setting the BET rate on a path to be reduced each year.

Every one of these measures does the same thing: It leaves more money where it belongs, in the pockets of the hardworking Granite Staters who earned it.

And when we brought the Taxpayer Protection Act to the floor for its final concurrence vote — legislation written for your neighbor being taxed out of the home their family has owned for generations — House Democrats laughed. No lie. They laughed on the House floor.

That same disregard for Granite Staters showed up again when we moved to end New Hampshire’s failed bail reform experiment and keep violent offenders off our streets. Democrats voted no and complained that too many people were finally being held accountable.

Here’s the truth most Granite Staters already know: Dangerous criminals belong behind bars, not back on the street by dinnertime. Public safety and economic security are two sides of the same coin. Families can’t thrive if they don’t feel safe in their homes or businesses, and they can’t keep what they earn if the government keeps reaching deeper into their pockets.

The New Hampshire Advantage and our quality of life are built on our culture of low taxes, public safety, welcoming economic activity, and limited intrusion into citizens’ private lives. Republicans have spent this session defending this culture. Democrats have spent it obstructing, excusing, and laying the groundwork for an income tax they admit this state doesn’t want.

The difference could not be more stark. Republicans are the party of low taxes and disciplined spending. Democrats are the party of income taxes and excuses for why their record doesn’t add up.

I’ll admit, watching that WMUR interview, I felt something close to sympathy for Leader Simpson. If I had to stand in front of a camera and defend her caucus’s record, I would struggle, too.

In November, the New Hampshire Advantage itself is on the ballot, and I am confident Granite Staters will turn out in force to protect it.

Jason Osborne is the majority leader of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and a state representative from Auburn. He wrote this for NHJournal.com.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.