Brett & Brenda Currier: Reserve Gilmanton's elderly tax exemption for those in need

To The Daily Sun,

Last year many residents voted on a new tax exemption for the Petition Warrant Article to help our community’s elderly. Who isn’t for helping our elderly town folks? What they didn’t realize was that by voting for this exemption, they were also helping the wealthy elderly people in the community who can already afford to pay their taxes. This new exemption allows for someone with $750,000 in assets (cash, stocks, bonds, etc.) NOT including their home to receive the exemption. They can also earn up to $80,000 as a married couple. It no longer just benefits those in need. The wealthy people could have well over a million dollars of net worth and still benefit from the exemption.

The problem is, when people are receiving up to $250,000 off their assessment (which amounts to approx. $6,250) then everyone else is making up the difference in their own tax bills. The town of Gilmanton still needs X amount of dollars to operate, which means all of that exempted money is spread out over everyone else’s tax bills. If it was just one person receiving the $6,250 in a tax break, we would barely notice the increase, but it won’t be just one person taking advantage of it. In 2020 less than ten people signed up for it. They only had a month to do so after it was voted in, therefore many people missed the opportunity. But in 2021, if everyone in the community age 65 and over takes advantage of the new exemption, your tax bills could increase significantly. Think about that! For example, a tax rate increase from $25 per thousand up to $40+ per thousand, would negatively impact everyone. An increase like this would also negatively affect the real estate market in Gilmanton. If you had to move away for a job or for whatever reason, it would be very difficult to sell your home with a tax rate that high.

The town already had the most generous exemption in the whole county for our elderly in NEED. Look at the chart that’s available. The key word here is need. We believe every community member agrees with helping our elderly who need a hand in affording the taxes in town, in order to remain living here. But this new exemption that was voted in last year doesn’t just help elderly in need. It also gives a huge tax break to wealthy people who don’t need a hand in paying their taxes. That new exemption makes it more difficult for the young people just starting out and everyone else under the age of 65 who is just trying to make ends meet.

Please vote YES on Article 15 so that we can go back to the old way of exemptions in helping our elderly who are truly in need.

Brett & Brenda Currier

Gilmanton