New Hampshire could become one of the earliest states to enable low-cost legal assistance by loosening occupational licensing regulations on the practice of law. If House Bill 1343 passes, paralegals would be able to provide limited legal representation to lower-income individuals in district, circuit and family court.  Paralegals have some legal training but are not […]

With two months left in the fiscal year, state business tax collections are $217.2 million above budget. For context, business tax revenues came in $649.9 million over budget during the entire previous decade.  So surplus business tax collections during the last 10 months have equaled 33% of the total surplus in business tax revenues collected […]

The state’s tremendous budget surplus is a windfall that should be used wisely. The last budget restored funding to the Rainy Day Fund. This year, policymakers would be wise to shift a large portion of the ($252 million so far) budget surplus to the state’s pension fund. This would save taxpayers money in the long […]

New Hampshire’s critical housing shortage has emerged as the No. 1 impediment to state economic growth, and the legislative session could end with no substantial progress on the issue.  In Concord, there is broad agreement that housing is a serious problem. There is little agreement on solutions. Paralyzed by a widespread reluctance to place legal […]

“While the talk is about free markets and private property—and it is more respectable than it was a few decades ago to defend near-complete laissez-faire—the bulk of the intellectual community almost automatically favors any expansion of government power so long as it is advertised as a way to protect individuals from big bad corporations, relieve […]

Using pressure tactics or government regulations, progressives have sought to banish from the market business activity they dislike. Some Republicans have responded in kind. In New Hampshire, House Bill 1469 showcases a Republican effort to cement culture war preferences in law. It offers a case study in regulatory overreach. The bill creates a list of “prohibited […]

If the Burgess Biopower plant in Berlin closes, New Hampshire electricity customers will save money. The state’s shrinking timber industry (and the City of Berlin) will lose money.  The Legislature is again faced with the prospect of choosing sides. And again a proposed bill would side with the timber industry, not ratepayers.  It’s a long […]

Join us Wednesday at noon for an online chat with Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge. Learn just how progressive the federal tax code is, the impact of the Biden administration’s tax and spending proposals, and how states are using their tax codes to make their economies more competitive.  Scott Hodge has been president of the […]

Granite Staters could gain a little more freedom this year to make extra money from home. The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the American workforce, probably permanently. A Pew poll in February found that 59% of people who say their jobs can be done mostly from home are working from home all or most of the […]

CONCORD — The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy today announces its transformation into the Woodrow Wilson Center for State Planning. After a quarter century offering market-based policy solutions that promoted opportunity, prosperity and liberty for all Granite Staters, the Bartlett Center board concluded that the people don’t really want to be left alone, they […]