{"id":11593,"date":"2012-09-05T07:30:47","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T11:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=11593"},"modified":"2012-09-06T16:52:57","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T20:52:57","slug":"primary-crash-course-how-gop-gov-candidates-say-they-would-jump-start-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/09\/05\/primary-crash-course-how-gop-gov-candidates-say-they-would-jump-start-the-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Primary Crash Course: How GOP Gov. Candidates Say They Would Jump-Start The Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_11597\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Republican Ovide Lamontagne favors making cutting business taxes while also offering new tax credits.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/09\/4929756591_b55d84e097.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11597\" title=\"Ovide Lamontagne In Portsmouth\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/09\/4929756591_b55d84e097-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/09\/4929756591_b55d84e097-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/09\/4929756591_b55d84e097.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">New Hampshire Public Radio<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Republican Ovide Lamontagne favors making cutting business taxes while also offering new tax credits.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Next week, New Hampshire voters will decide who gets to run for governor this November.\u00a0 And despite the fact that most states would envy our 5.4 percent unemployment rate, <a title=\"NH Jobs\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/tag\/nh-jobs\/\" target=\"_blank\">jobs<\/a> and the <a title=\"\t Your Guide To New Hampshire's Economy\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/tag\/newhampshireeconomy\/\" target=\"_blank\">economy<\/a> are the issues driving the primary elections. StateImpact lays out the similarities&#8211;and differences&#8211;between the plans of the leading GOP candidates.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>How are Kevin Smith and Ovide Lamontagne&#8217;s proposals alike?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>They\u2019re both going the traditional conservative Republican route of cutting business taxes in some way, in the hope that it draws more enterprise into the state.\u00a0 Which they say would import more jobs.\u00a0 And they would off-set that drop in tax revenue from businesses at first by making budget cuts.\u00a0 The idea is that it doesn\u2019t put more money into the state coffers immediately.\u00a0 But over time, as the number of tax-paying businesses increases, revenues will increase even though taxes were actually cut. \u00a0You just have more people paying into the system.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>As Republicans, we would expect them both to think along similar lines.\u00a0 How are they different?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\"><div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/09\/04\/how-republican-gov-candidates-tax-cut-plans-could-affect-nhs-bottom-line\/\">How Republican Gov. Candidates\u2019 Tax Cut Plans Could Affect NH\u2019s Bottom Line<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/08\/27\/gov-candidate-kevin-smith-sees-big-benefit-from-campaign-finance-loophole\/\">Gov. Candidate Kevin Smith Sees Big Benefit From Campaign Finance Loophole<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/08\/27\/160092192\/new-hampshire-a-low-cost-massachusetts\">New Hampshire, A Low-Cost Massachusetts?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/08\/6355404323_cf97f9c58e-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/taxes\/\">The Essential Guide To New Hampshire State\u00a0Taxes<\/a><\/p><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/10\/1058204843_32496fe28c-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/new-hampshire-economy\/\">Your Guide To New Hampshire\u2019s Economy<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>A: <\/span>You can divide their differences on jobs and the economy\u2014business tax reform, basically\u2014into two categories.\u00a0 How much they\u2019d cut taxes, and their thoughts on tax credits.\u00a0 Among other things, <a title=\"Kevin Smith For Governor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kevinsmithforgovernor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kevin Smith<\/a> is calling for a 3.5 percent reduction in the Business Profits Tax over seven years.\u00a0 Right now it\u2019s at eight-and-a-half-percent.\u00a0 <a title=\"Ovide Lamontagne: Governor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ovide2012.com\/contact\" target=\"_blank\">Ovide Lamontagne<\/a> is calling for a smaller reduction of a half-percent reduction over two years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">On the tax credit side is where they really differ.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>What is Ovide Lamontagne proposing for tax credits?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>He says he would introduce two new key credits for the Business Enterprise Tax.\u00a0 You could go pretty deep into this one, but this is basically a tax large employers pay on their workers\u2019 wages.\u00a0 Under his plan, businesses in the manufacturing sector would be eligible.\u00a0 So the more factories hire, the lower their tax burden gets.\u00a0 The other big thing he would do is push for a dollar-for-dollar BET offset credit for employers who helped pay workers\u2019 student loans.\u00a0 So if a business had one hundred workers with student debt and paid $500 a year on each person\u2019s loan, that\u2019s effectively $50,000 less they owe toward the BET.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>What does Kevin Smith propose for business?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11598\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"In contrast to Lamontagne, Kevin Smith wants to get away from tax credits and instead offer broad business tax cuts.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/09\/5622214163_5e45968cb81.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11598\" title=\"Kevin Smith In Concord\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/09\/5622214163_5e45968cb81-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/09\/5622214163_5e45968cb81-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/09\/5622214163_5e45968cb81.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">NHPR<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">In contrast to Lamontagne, Kevin Smith wants to get away from tax credits and instead offer broad business tax cuts.<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>He\u2019s actively pushing against adding new tax credits.\u00a0 He\u2019s arguing for streamlining the tax code and just broadly cutting business taxes.\u00a0 I contacted his campaign, and they explained it as not wanting government to pick winners and losers through the tax code.\u00a0 They also cited a <a title=\"Firms Pass Up Tax Breaks, Citing Hassles, Complexity \" href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10000872396390444025204577543060812237798.html\" target=\"_blank\">Wall Street Journal article<\/a> which reported that a lot of businesses don\u2019t bother with the hassle of applying for these credits.\u00a0 It\u2019s just too much paperwork.\u00a0 Interestingly, though, his campaign also told me he believes it\u2019s important to offer \u201cstrategic incentives\u201d to draw businesses into the state beyond the old-school <a title=\" New Hampshire, A Low-Cost Massachusetts?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/08\/27\/160092192\/new-hampshire-a-low-cost-massachusettshttp:\/\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Hampshire Advantage<\/a> mantra of <a title=\"The Essential Guide To New Hampshire State Taxes\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/tag\/taxes\/\" target=\"_blank\">no income or sales tax<\/a>.\u00a0 What exactly that means is unclear, because at the same time, he\u2019s said he\u2019s not for offering tax breaks or other incentives to specific companies or industries..\u00a0 But he is arguing for some sort of a more aggressive approach toward companies that want to expand, or poaching big employers from out-of-state.<\/p>\n<p><em>Tomorrow we&#8217;ll take a closer look at the proposals of Democratic candidates Maggie Hassan and Jackie Cilley.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ed. Note: In an earlier version of this story, we reported that Kevin Smith is calling for a three percent reduction in the Business Profits Tax over seven years.\u00a0 The correct figure is 3.5 percent.\u00a0 We regret the error.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Next week, New Hampshire voters will decide who gets to run for governor this November.\u00a0 And despite the fact that most states would envy our 5.4 percent unemployment rate, jobs and the economy are the issues driving the primary elections. StateImpact lays out the similarities&#8211;and differences&#8211;between the plans of the leading GOP candidates. Q: How [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":11597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53],"tags":[84,571,372,575,185,558,576,501,244],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11593"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}