Posts by Phil Sletten
New Hampshire State revenues in December fell short of their target for two key funds by a combined $20.4 million (6.6 percent), nearly doubling the State’s revenue deficit halfway through the fiscal year.
As 2025 approaches, the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute rounded up 10 fiscal facts to help inform the Granite State’s public policy conversations in the New Year.
Seven quick takeaways from the one-year and five-year American Community Survey datasets that provide greater understanding about the lives of Granite Staters.
State revenues slipped further behind expectations in November as key sources the State had been relying on for revenue growth fell behind the prior fiscal year’s receipts. Lower business tax receipts added to the year-to-date revenue deficit, with revenues thus far this fiscal year $76.4 million (20.9 percent) behind last year’s combined business tax collections.
The Legislature will work to pass a new state budget in 2025. After four budget cycles that began with surpluses, the next cycle may be more challenging. Service reductions are not a certainty for the new budget, but policymakers face significant headwinds to sustain past investments.
New Hampshire maintained the lowest official state-level poverty rate in the nation in 2023, but other poverty-related data show that the Granite State does not have the least economic hardship by all measures.
The TCJA, when passed in 2017, included a 2025 end date for several key policies to reduce the projected ten-year cost of the entire piece of legislation. Different sets of assumptions led to an array of cost estimates from federal agencies for the legislation as written, ranging generally from $1 trillion to $2 trillion in forgone revenue during the ten-year window.
New data released by the U.S. Census Bureau provide key insights into the economic well-being of Granite Staters. The American Community Survey’s 2023 state-level data showed that median household income recovered to 2021 levels after adjusting for inflation, following a decline in 2022. While the median household income increased, the poverty rate held steady at 7.2 percent, reflecting that nearly 100,000 New Hampshire residents had very little income despite purchasing power growing for the median household.
A new analysis from Pew Charitable Trusts suggests that the majority of states have tax revenues below their 15-year growth trendlines, and inflation-adjusted tax collections were relatively stagnant for the first five months of calendar year 2024.
Recently released federal data indicate that county, city, and town governments in New Hampshire likely have millions of flexible, unspent federal dollars that must be committed to a purpose before the end of the year.