No quick-fix on state tax issues

Tom Fahey wraps up two days of Tax Summit with a story in the Union Leader, in which he turns to a certain think tank for a little history on tax reform in New Hampshire.

Josiah Bartlett Center on Public Policy president Charles Arlinghaus said it's been more like 40 years since the last real tear-down of state tax code. The work in 1970 produced the business profits tax, now a mainstay of state revenues. He said the BPT "created a sea change" by shifting state tax policy to encourage business investment, and set the stage for an economic boom that lasted through the 1990s.

Arlinghaus said he takes issue with the conservative Tax Foundation's rankings that put New Hampshire at the bottom of the heap in terms of business taxes. He said the foundation, in its rankings, doesn't count a key business enterprise tax credit that companies can take.