Andrew Sanborn: New Hampshire’s high property tax burden on residents

To The Daily Sun,

New Hampshire is often praised as a “beacon of freedom and opportunity” because it has no broad‑based income tax. But that slogan leaves out a crucial reality: Under RSA 75, New Hampshire funds government primarily through property taxes, and those taxes shape residents’ lived experience far more than the absence of an income tax ever does.

RSA 75 requires property to be assessed at “full and true value” and places the burden of funding essential services on land and housing. As a result, New Hampshire relies on some of the highest effective property tax rates in the region. Property taxes are due regardless of income, job loss, retirement status, or cash flow. A homeowner on a fixed income can pay a larger share of earnings in taxes than a high‑wage worker, simply because the tax is disconnected from ability to pay.

This structure limits freedom in practical terms. Rising assessments under RSA 75 can force seniors to sell long‑held homes, discourage working families from investing in property improvements, and push renters into higher rents that quietly pass property taxes along without transparency. The risk of losing housing over tax obligations is not an abstraction — it is a feature of a system that treats homes as the primary tax base. RSA 75 also produces inequity between towns. Communities with less property wealth must impose higher rates to fund the same services as wealthier neighbors, meaning similar homes face very different tax bills based solely on location. Uniformity within a town does not equal fairness across the state. New Hampshire has not eliminated taxation; it has concentrated it on the most immobile asset people own—their homes. If freedom and opportunity are measured by housing security, economic mobility, and fairness, then any honest conversation must look beyond slogans and confront the truth of RSA75.

Andrew Sanborn

Sanbornton