Susan's secret: Pitching an income tax

The Union Leader is not surprised that long-time income tax supporters are laying the groundwork for an income tax.

This year her committee recommended, and she advocated, an estate tax and a capital gains tax. She's spent years searching for ways to raise taxes on Granite Staters. That she's organizing the summit is worrisome. That she deliberately kept it a secret because, she acknowledges, she didn't want the income tax information to get out, is troubling.

House Speaker Terie Norelli, who voted for an income tax in 1999, says not to fret. She admits that the income tax will be on the table during the summit, but she notes that Gov. John Lynch has pledged to veto it, so it's off the table in the Legislature. So why not take it off the table at the summit, then? If it's really not an option, why consider it?

The answer, obviously, is that they are considering it, and they hope to convince enough legislators to support it that Lynch's veto won't matter.

Shhh, they're talking income tax

Tom Fahey leads his "Under the State House Dome" column in the Union Leader with more details on the Economic Summit that longtime income tax supporters Terie Norelli and Susan Almy are putting together, which they say will be about so much more than the income tax.

Norelli said the best time to look at the revenue landscape is when lawmakers don't have a budget gun pointed at their heads.

"It's an opportunity for us to take a look at all our taxes and fees. Do they help or hurt the economy, or are they neutral? What's good for economic development and what's bad? They will be hearing from economists on a national and state level on the right and on the left and, hopefully, in between, and there won't be any recommendation coming out of it. It's strictly giving people information," Norelli said.

Fahey notes that the House has held onto an income tax bill for further study. This bill could easily serve as the Legislative vehicle for any tax "reform" ideas coming out of Norelli's tax summit.

Fahey also updates the stalled contract talks between the state and the SEA, and has lots of political stuff.