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gunkulator
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A Granite Stater (from New Hampshire) here to explain how we ended up with the 2nd lowest tax burden - and in the Northeast to boot! NH probably has the most unusual state government.
All terms of office (house, senate, gov) are 2 years and the turnover can be dizzying. The NH state house has 400 members which makes it the world's second largest elected body, after the US House. I live in a town of 6000 people and I personally know both of my representatives.
The legislature only meets a couple months out of the year and budgets are only done every two years. For their troubles, our legislators are paid the whopping sum of $100 per year so pretty much all of them have another job. Getting 400 people to agree on anything is next to impossible so relatively few laws are passed. Currently, the governor is a Democrat while the legislature is mostly Republican and that only slows the gears further.
The governor's office is weakened not just by the short 2 year term, but also with an elected Executive Council. The Council has veto power over appointments and other facets of executive operations. There is no Lt. Gov.
NH has a constitutional prohibition against unfunded mandates. That means the state is not allowed to mandate ANYTHING unless it provides the funds to pay for it. NH has neither a state income tax nor a state sales tax so there just aren't a lot of funds to go making new laws with.
The vast majority of taxes raised in NH are local property taxes. Except for a handful of cities, NH towns are run via Town Meeting, i.e. direct democracy. Once a year, the citizens gather to debate anything and everything regarding town business. Votes are made and the tax rate for the year is known then and there. A group of Selectmen are elected as executives to collect and spend the money but they are unable to raise additional revenue. Only the whole town voting has that power.
Most towns have their share of old curmudgeons with nothing better to do than to scrutinize every single line item on the budget. They all show up at the Town Meeting and biatch and moan about every freakin' pencil that the town buys. Waste, fraud, abuse, cronyism, nepotism and the like are much harder to hide on the local level.
Now the bad news: There are large disparities between rich towns and poor towns. Since most money comes from local sources, poor towns have to make do with less. Also, property taxes are very high which makes it difficult for people on a fixed income to keep their homes. They are the source from which most of the old curmudgeons come from. Also, we have our share of Libertarians, Free Staters and other extreme groups who feel that even our limited state government is still too much government. I guess that's what you get when the state motto is "Live Free or Die".
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gunkulator
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Az:
No state sales or income tax in NH because none has ever been voted in. There hasn't even been a serious debate about enacting one either.
To our south is the Colossus that is Massachusetts which is Big Government personified. Almost every week a new story surfaces how state tax money is being wasted there. You've probably heard of the Big Dig which by now should be the poster child for Waste, Fraud and Abuse. NH citizens are distrustful of state government.
Direct democracy has its ups and downs. On the upside, everyone has a right to speak their mind at the Town Meeting and with enough signatures, petitions can be brought by anyone before the entire town for a vote. There's very little place to hide waste because somebody will find it. Even our town employees have their individual salaries and the cost of their benefits published in the town's annual report.
On the downside is the obvious inefficency of hundreds of adults debating, amending and clarifying every issue. In my town this year, we spent an hour discussing what option packages to include in the F-350 pickup truck that was being voted on. Same with the new police cruiser. Yeesh.
Also, Town Meetings are not responsive to emergencies. Occasionally, my town burns through the snow removal budget and an emergency meeting has to be called for more money. You can't just call a meeting the next day. A few weeks notice is required so that all citizens have a chance to attend.
The lack of funding for poor towns is an issue. The state does collect taxes from hotels, restaurants and from the lottery. Much of that is given back to the poorer towns. As always, poor towns tend to be smaller towns so their collective voting power is small.
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mrmitchell
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Sure NH doesn't have but the 10th or 20th largest legislative assembly, but consider the size of the population it represents (1.3 million)--400 representatives per 1.3 million equals 3250 people per representator. India's 1.1 billion people have to fight over 545 representatives, which is about 2 million people (one and a half New Hampshires) per elected man or woman.
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12-04-2005 16:46
. Wow... that's a very interesting way to run the government. I love the large legislature size and law against unfunded mandates.
. My bad. Meant to say nation instead of world. I was reading a news article on the World Champion Boston RedSox at the time - you know, the team that won the World Series. 
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