State employee unions declare an 'income tax'

State employees facing budget cuts have come up with a new way to descibe smaller government. They say it's an income tax. Lauren Dorgan reports in the Concord Monitor and state workers and retirees are trying to redefine receiving less money from the taxpayers as "an income tax" on state workers and pensioners:

Two of the proposals that have generated protests from union leaders, employees and retirees will likely have their first major vote today, when the full House Finance Committee takes a vote on the state budget. They are:

Temporarily boosting public employees' contributions to the New Hampshire Retirement System by 2 percent, to 7 or 11 percent of every paycheck, depending on what the employee does, a measure backed by lawmakers on a finance subcommittee.

Having retired state employees under 65 years old pay a portion of the premiums for their state-provided health insurance for the first time, a move proposed by Gov. John Lynch and backed by the subcommittee. Lynch, a Democrat, proposed a charge of $100 a month for a single person. House lawmakers have suggested instead charging 11.5 percent of the pension for each of the roughly 2,400 state retirees who take advantage of the health care plan. That way, lawmakers said, those who draw the smallest pensions won't shoulder an excessive burden.