Residence: Concord
Experience: State Senate Majority Leader; Senator, NH Senate (2014 - present); Attorney, New Hampshire Legal Assistance; Mediator
Website: https://danfeltesnh.com
Email: Dan@danfeltes.com
Positions on Issues
Broad-based sales tax: "Against"
Broad-based income tax: "Against"
Capital gains tax: "I don't support a broad-based income tax, or an income tax on earned income. New Hampshire already taxes capital gains on businesses at the BPT rate, including for sole proprietors, while individuals selling stocks don't pay anything. Reform could be considered that both increase exemptions across the board and uses the same rate for individuals as sole proprietors."
Business tax decrease: "The types of business tax reform that we passed in the 20-21 state budget should continue to be pursued. We must protect New Hampshire's small businesses while ensuring that large, multi-state and multinational corporations pay their fair share. Prior to this state budget, companies like Netflix and Amazon didn't pay New Hampshire businesses taxes, we closed those loopholes in this last budget."
Cigarette tax increase: "Yes, but lower than surrounding states."
Road usage fee: "Against"
Minimum wage increase: "Yes. New Hampshire's minimum wage should gradually be increased to $15 per hour, similar to legislation voted on by Rep. Pappas and Rep. Kuster. New Hampshire currently has no state minimum wage and defaults to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which is unacceptable."
Tax incentives for affordable housing: "For"
NH business subsidies and tax credits: "Generally speaking, I don't believe the government should be picking winners and losers; however, we must incentivize smart investments and the jobs of the future, especially right now as we get out of this economic recession."
Student debt repayment for certain industries: "For"
Per-pupil school funding increase: "For"
Tax revenue for private and home schooling: "Public tax dollars should not go to private schools."
Statewide, mandatory family and medical leave: "Senate Bill 1, which I wrote, required worker access to paid family and medical leave, but did not require how it would be paid for. Instead, it provided multiple options for businesses, without mandating a tax, of any kind. HB 712 operated the same way. Both had bipartisan sponsors. Both had broad stakeholder support, from medical professionals to worker advocates to businesses. Both were critical for workers caring for loved one with severe impairments, critical for new families, critical to combating the opioid epidemic, and critical to helping those grappling with COVID-19. Both were vetoed by Gov. Sununu who opposes paid family and medical leave."
Private, opt-in family and medical leave: "Governor Sununu's 'proposal', was a political tactic to try to cover for Gov. Sununu's opposition to paid family and medical leave. On substance, it amounted to the status quo plus tax cuts for big corporations that already provide paid family and medical leave. When presented, literally no one from the public testified in support of it -- not one person or group or business."
Abortion ban after 24 weeks: "The government should not interfere with the medical decisions of a patient and her doctor."
Marijuana legalization: "Yes. Right now, New Hampshire is on an island in the Northeast as the only state that has not legalized marijuana. This is both an economic and racial justice issue as people of color are disproportionately arrested and charged with marijuana-related offenses. New Hampshire should legalize and regulate marijuana so that the state receives a significant amount of revenue and allocate a portion of that revenue to addiction treatment services. There should also be robust child protections in place."
Stricter gun laws: "We should pass the common-sense gun violence prevention legislation vetoed by Governor Sununu that is overwhelmingly supported by the general public including universal background checks, waiting/cooling-off period at purchase, gun-free school zones, and extreme risk protection orders."
Increased access to police misconduct reports: "Once an officer has had due-process and has been found guilty of misconduct, I would support the release of the names to increase accountability."
Net metering expansion: "Yes. This will help drive down rates and drive up new jobs opportunities here in New Hampshire."
Extending renewable energy portfolio standard: "Yes. This will help drive down rates and drive up new job opportunities here in New Hampshire."
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: "For"
Emergency power restrictions "Yes. And governors should comply with existing law, including RSA 9:13-d, which requires Fiscal Committee approval of expenditures in an emergency. Governor Sununu broke a bipartisan practice followed by governors, including Benson and Lynch, when Sununu evaded the Fiscal Committee in a time of an emergency."
Mail-in voting: "For"
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.