Jack Stephenson

To the editor:

Many before me have said that the unconstitutional property tax must be abolished! Property tax means that you can't own property: you only rent it from the state! It doesn't matter how much you or your grandparents paid for it, or if you have any income now, the property tax can steal it from you! Steal is the correct word, and indicates also that the government at ALL levels steal all your rights! Can you operate a fair business? NO! Only if you pay off the "regulators of the State" and pay off the "medical insurers" "pawns of the state, or vice versa."

Can you own property? No, The state owns all property, and your authentic bill of sale only says you are now the sucker that the state will require to pay massive rent to (i.e., property tax).

There are far worse examples of the total evils of state control, but more important, there is a way for we, the people, to reverse this!

The N.H. Constitution requires that all taxes must be proportional. Nice idea, but never defined. Today we can all read that to mean "fair and proportional to what you can pay." i.e., "a tax of your income of which you can afford to spend." That has nothing to do with what you or your parents have already purchased (your property).

"Income tax is often raised as a good form of tax, but it fails the test of fairness: When some one offers to buy your family home; which you have no desire to sell; for $200,000 more than it cost you, does that, without a sale, mean you got $200,000 more income? Property tax says yes, and thus you must pay more tax, with no more income. Income tax says yes, you got more "capital gain," so should pay tax on it.

The only fair test of "income" is what you can, and are willing, to spend on new products. We often call that form of "income tax" a sales or consumption tax. Call it what you like, it is still the fair form of income tax, and should be the only tax in N.H., or the USA.

N.H. has many dishonest legislators, who have jumped on the bandwagon of gross stupidity of "no broad based taxes." OK, what do they call a broad based tax? The obvious most broad based tax is property tax, since it hits everyone who lives or works anywhere in N.H. Is it proportional as the N.H. Constitution requires? Hell no. It has nothing to do with fairness, proportional, or just basic common sense.

N.H.'s next broad based tax is fuel tax, which can't be proportional, since it hits the commuting workers much more than any others, but does hit us all.

Next most evil broad based tax is rooms and meals tax: That attacks the tourist business more than any other. Restaurants and Hotels, Motels likely lose more business due to that special selective discriminatory tax than any other. Yet N.H. needs tourists to support the whole state: are we to drive them off with taxes?

Yes N.H. has an income tax, but not a fair one: it only attacks our most productive, useful citizens, the 100 percent evil business "profits" tax. Has nothing to do with real profits, and costs businesses more in calculating the evil load than the actual bad tax.

All of those totally evil misunderstood taxes can be eliminated, (including all property tax) with a simple consumption tax: tax all new products sold in all stores, 8 percent, as is done in most other states. At the same time, repeal all property taxes in N.H. The state must then return to all communities a portion of consumption taxes received by the state to cover all the previous property taxes received by that community. All excess over previously voted on school funding goes to fund town functions. (Sorry, but although I'm not totally psychic, I can hear the screams of town wasteful bureaucrats — and screams of joy from the taxpayers).

Please note the importance that property tax must be replaced by consumption tax, all in the same legislation! None of the usual adding of a tax before the bad tax is repealed.

Jack Stephenson

Gilford