New Hampshire is once again the freest state both in the United States and on the North American continent, topping each index in this year’s Economic Freedom of North America report, released today by the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy in conjunction with Canada’s Fraser Institute. “Granite Staters continue to choose policies that empower […]

New Hampshire is the No. 3 state in the country for outbound cigarette smuggling, resulting in a revenue windfall, concludes the latest annual report on interstate cigarette smuggling from the Tax Foundation and Mackinac Center for Public Policy. From 2007-2022, New Hampshire earned $955 million in state revenue from cigarette buyers who then smuggled their […]

Thanksgiving is a time to count your blessings, and Granite Staters have a cornucopia of them.  Aside from the obvious charms of the state’s natural beauty, its variety of coastline, lakes, hills and mountains, its plentiful ice cream shops and its abundant maple syrup, humans have created additional benefits of living here. Below are five […]

With New England state governments committed to reducing their carbon emissions at least 80% by 2050, residents and businesses can expect electricity rates to double, along with rolling blackouts, according to a new joint report completed by several of the region’s leading think tanks. The study concludes that weather dependent “renewable” energies — like wind […]

In the United States and across the globe, a stark political divide has emerged not between left and right, but between outsiders and insiders. To a large extent, the 2024 election reflects an outsider revolt against elite misuse of institutions. Analysts and writers on both the left and the right have noticed this, though they […]

New Hampshire this year slipped ahead of Texas to claim the No. 6 spot on a national index of state tax competitiveness published by the Tax Foundation. Formerly the Business Tax Climate Index, the newly redesigned 2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index combines the Tax Foundation’s indexes for corporate, individual income, sales, property and unemployment insurance […]

Nine years after the state began reducing business tax rates, five narratives are driving the policy discussion of those cuts. All five are false.   In a new briefing paper, we debunk the five most common myths about the business tax cuts that ran from 2015-2022. Background: From 2015-2022, legislators cut the Business Profits Tax […]

Since New Hampshire began cutting business tax rates in 2015, state aid to municipalities and public school districts has fallen, according to a prominent political narrative.  That narrative is false. Aid to local governments and local school districts rose by by $214 million (19%) from Fiscal Year 2015 to Fiscal Year 2025, an October report […]

Businesses not paying their fair share. Shrinking state revenues. A tax burden shifted from businesses to property tax payers.  Those were the predictions critics have made since 2015, when New Hampshire legislators began a series of business tax cuts.  Not only did those predictions fail to materialize, but the exact opposite happened. Since the rate […]

Among his many memorable contributions to American arts, the great singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who passed away in September, wrote one of the most quotable lines in rock history. “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” It’s a fabulous drifter anthem.  It’s also entirely wrong.  Part of the American political left at the time […]