Our Petition

On February 14, 2013 Gov. Maggie Hassan presented a budget proposal for the next biennium that includes increased taxes, $184.2 million in increased general fund spending and relies on $80 million in licensing revenues from expanded gambling. She has built a fiscally irresponsible house of cards that could collapse at any moment.

This is the first time in the history of our state that a Governor has built a budget on revenues that do not exist and are illegal in the state of New Hampshire. Expanded gaming has failed in our legislature a dozen times before and there is no guarantee it will pass this year. Even if it does, gaming revenues are too uncertain to be used to balance a budget.

What’s more, Gov. Hassan’s budget also repeals the Education Tax Credit Scholarship Fund, an education opportunity law passed last term that allows students from low and middle-income families to access greater educational opportunities.

We call on Gov. Hassan to explain why she would deny equal educational opportunity as a means of balancing her budget, and to offer a specific proposal today as to what cuts she will implement, or what additional taxes will she raise, to make up for the $80 million in fabricated revenues included in her budget.