Notter And Presa: Merrimack's Property Tax Problem Is A Spending Problem

By Jeanine Notter and Adam Presa, NH Journal

When local property tax assessments in Merrimack go up, working families and seniors feeling the squeeze deserve honest answers. Unfortunately, some local politicians have taken to social media with lengthy rants attempting to convince you that your higher property taxes are somehow the fault of state tax cuts.

Whenever progressive politicians complain about a state revenue shortfall, let us be clear about what they are actually saying: They want to raise your taxes.

It is the oldest tactic in the government playbook. When politicians run out of room in their budgets, they rarely look in the mirror and trim waste. Instead, they demand more of your hard-earned money to cover their overspending. They try to frame it as a revenue problem, but Merrimack taxpayers know better. It is never a revenue problem. It is a spending problem.

Consider a simple household example. Imagine your teenager has a debit card tied to a bank account. Every month, you deposit a reasonable allowance that should easily cover their expenses. But month after month, they max out the account and demand a higher allowance. No sensible parent looks at that situation and hands over another credit card or increases the allowance. Doing so only funds more waste. The solution is to take away the card, sit down at the kitchen table and teach them financial discipline.

Government needs that exact same lesson. When the state cut taxes for local businesses, many predicted a catastrophe. Instead, those tax cuts unleashed historic economic growth, record job creation and state revenue surpluses. Concord used those surpluses to send hundreds of millions of dollars to municipalities. For example, since 2022, Merrimack has received $12,782,020 from the state in local revenue sharing (HB 2, 2021, 2023 and 2025).

You will never hear Merrimack’s Democratic state representatives tell you facts like these. Today, the state of New Hampshire invests more than $1 billion a year in public education and has sent Merrimack more than $108.8 million since 2021 to fund its public schools. They also will not tell you that, under Republican leadership, we have more than doubled state education aid to Merrimack schools.

It is also extremely telling that, when put on the spot, every one of Merrimack’s Democratic state representatives voted to set school funding at $0, close our state liquor stores and shut down state government (HB 2, 2025). Actions speak louder than words, and the actions of Merrimack’s Democrats are those of failure.

If local property tax assessments are rising in Merrimack, it is not because the state let local businesses keep more of their earnings. It is because local government spending continues to grow. Blaming state-level tax cuts for municipal budget choices is simply a way to avoid local accountability.

The contrast between the rhetoric and voting records in Concord could not be clearer. Consider what happened at the State House this session alone. The first action taken by House Democrats in 2026 was an attempt to suspend House rules specifically to bring forward a state income tax. One of Merrimack’s own Democratic state representatives voted with them to support that effort (rules suspension, Jan. 7, 2026).

It did not stop there. When we brought forward constitutional amendments to permanently protect Granite Staters from a state income tax and preserve the New Hampshire Advantage, Merrimack’s Democratic state representatives voted against them (CACR 10 and CACR 12, 2026). By refusing to constitutionally ban an income tax, they helped pave the way for a $1 billion property tax hike and a $1 billion income tax — the largest tax increase in New Hampshire history.

Even more telling is how those same representatives treated property tax relief. When the Legislature introduced the Taxpayer Protection Act to give Merrimack voters the right to place a cap on their own local property taxes at the ballot box, every Democratic state representative from Merrimack voted against it (HB 1300, 2026).

You cannot claim to care about the financial stress on local homeowners while actively voting against their right to cap property taxes, opposing constitutional protections against an income tax and supporting procedural maneuvers to introduce one. It is nonsensical that, while Democrats complain about affordability, their only solutions involve raising your taxes. We cannot help but ask: How will forcing you to hand over more money to the government make your life more affordable?

Easing the financial pressure on Merrimack families requires real discipline. The answer to overspending will never be higher taxes. The answer is, and always will be, fiscal responsibility.

State Reps. Jeanine Notter and Adam Presa are Republican state representatives from Merrimack.

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.