By Kevin Landrigan
The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
(TNS)
(May 14) A final effort to put an anti-income-tax amendment for the New Hampshire Constitution up for a statewide vote this fall failed Thursday.
During long sessions in the House and Senate, leaders in both bodies worked to resurrect pet bills that had run into pushback from the other chamber.
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, tried for a second time this legislative session to get the 60% supermajority vote needed to get the anti-tax amendment out of the House.
“Now today, there are no excuses left and it is our responsibility to give every Granite Stater the opportunity to say no income tax, not now, not ever,” Osborne said.
A short time later he added, “Death is not the worst of evils, but I think an income tax just might be.”
Recommended Articles
House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson of Exeter said the Legislature under both Democratic and Republican control has rejected income and sales tax bills and the amendment was unnecessary.
“The bottom line is Granite Staters do not want an income tax—period,” Simpson said. “No proposal to do an income tax has received serious support in this century.”
The vote to adopt the amendment was 193-148, which was 43 votes shy because the 60% majority hurdle is for the entire membership of 393 in the House, whether they were present or not.
Rep. Tom Oppel, D-Canaan, offered a competing proposed constitutional amendment asking if voters would support a progressive income tax.
The House voted, 322-17, against that idea.
Photo credit: Nils Huenerfuerst/Unsplash
_______
© 2026 The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.). Visit www.unionleader.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
Sign in to get access to this free resource, and all of our whitepapers and reports.
Download this content today!
Register Now Already registered? Click here to Log In
