On the eve of Tax Day, a quartet of free-market state lawmakers and policy gurus used the occasion to call on New Hampshire’s all-Democratic congressional delegation to extend the tax cuts passed in 2017 and set to expire at the end of the year.
The bad news is that if the cuts do expire, Granite Staters will see their tax bill surge. And unfortunately, Greg Moore with Americans For Prosperity pointed out at Monday’s press conference, “Congress is historically very good at doing nothing.”
That’s especially true of Democrats in Congress if it means working with the Trump White House.
Both Democratic U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) when it first passed in 2017.
“Reps. (Chris) Pappas and (Maggie) Goodlander have had two chances to vote to extend the tax cuts so far on two different budget bills,” Moore said. “They have voted against it, and moreover, they have offered no alternative, no alternative whatsoever.
Greg Moore with Americans for Prosperity discusses tax policy at a press conference in Concord, N.H., on April 14, 2025.
“It seems apparent to me that their opinion is just to see the Granite State get this massive new tax increase, so we’re calling on them to reconsider support for extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” Moore said.
Also in the press conference were Drew Cline with the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, House Finance Committee Vice Chair Dan McGuire (R-Epsom), and small business owner and state Rep. Brian Labrie (R-Bedford).
One of the hardest jobs, according to Cline, is keeping the public informed.
“The myth going around for decades has been that the federal deficit and the federal debt are driven by tax cuts or low taxes,” he said. “That’s not true. The federal deficit is driven by spending.”
The numbers don’t lie.
Congressional Budget Office statistics show federal spending has averaged 20.4 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 1960. The CBO also projects federal spending is currently on a course to rise to 27.3 percent of the GDP by 2054.
Allowing the 2017 law to expire and sending tax rates soaring won’t fix spending, Cline said.
“People in New Hampshire and the United States should not be hit with a massive tax increase just because politicians in Washington refused to control spending,” he added.
The effect on New Hampshire households will be real, Moore warned. AFP found that if Congress fails to act, the average New Hampshire family will be forced to cough up an additional $3,472 in federal taxes. Massachusetts residents would feel the most pain in the region. AFP estimates families will have to pay an average of $4,656 annually.
Also notable, according to Moore, a national poll commissioned by AFP found that only 13 percent of Americans are aware that the TCJA is set to expire in 2026 unless Congress acts.
“But the good news is when we inform people about the tax cut, 75 percent of Americans said that they supported it, including the majority of Democrats,” Moore said.
Yet selling Democrats on that argument, if the state party’s own words are any indication, could be next to impossible.
In December 2023, to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the tax overhaul, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley issued a statement ripping the measure as a Republican “tax scam,” calling it a “disaster for Granite Staters.”
“While New Hampshire families foot the bill, Trump handed out tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy and major corporations – all while incentivizing them to ship American jobs overseas,” Buckley said. “The same catastrophic MAGAnomics agenda that left Trump with the worst jobs record since the Great Depression is on the ballot once again next November as MAGA Republicans run to extend these handouts to the ultra-rich.”
Asked to comment on Buckley’s assertions, Moore suggested Democrats continue with their messaging.
“I’ll just say, let’s see how we’re ready to share that message to people who are seeing $1,800 bucks a year of tax increases for their families,” he said. “I mean, these folks were already seeing the impact of (President) Joe Biden’s inflation, of raising inflationary costs by $1,000 a month.”
Moore also pointed to a National Federation of Independent Business – New Hampshire study which found the tax cut package’s small business deduction led to 6,000 new jobs in the Granite State.
Rep. Dan McGuire (R-Epsom) at press conference urging NH delegation to support Trump tax rates, April 14, 2025
“Maybe Chairman Buckley should go have a conversation with those 6,000 people and ask them what they think about having a job,” Moore said.
McGuire, who also serves as chairman of Granite State Taxpayers organization dismissed Buckley’s claims about Trump offshoring U.S. jobs as “ridiculous.”
“I’ll defend President Trump on the accusation that he wants to send manufacturing jobs overseas,” McGuire said.
Labrie, who owns a landscaping company, urged residents to reach out directly to the state’s federal delegation and tell them “Enough is enough.”
“We come to New Hampshire because the tax burden here is one of the lowest,” he said. “That doesn’t mean anything if we’re going to continue to get crushed by federal taxes.
“We’ll lose that competitive advantage.”
