It also suggests something that might trouble the plaintiffs in the Rand and ConVal school funding suits:
Even if the court does find a piece of the school funding formula unconstitutional, as it did today w/r/t negative tax rates, it might not order a fix directly. #NHPolitics
The ruling does not affect the court's bigger anticipated ruling on the constitutionality of the NH school funding formula. Both the Rand and the ConVal lawsuits are continuing.
But it appears to put to bed the question of whether SWEPT retention by wealthy towns is unconstitutional. #NHPolitics
MacDonald does rule that the "negative tax rate" applied to unincorporated towns by the Dept. of Revenue Administration *does* violate the constitution (and Bassett concurred).
But the majority holds it is up to the Legislature, not the court, to fix this. #NHPolitics
JUST IN: In a 3-1 ruling, the NH Supreme Court has *rejected* taxpayers' arguments that NH's Statewide Ed. Property Tax is unconstitutionally unequal.
Chief Justice MacDonald writing for majority; Donovan + Countway concurring; Bassett dissenting on this point.
Key parts below:
#NHPolitics
New Hampshire's new voting law requiring no-exceptions ID at the polls and hard proof of citizenship for new registrants is 2 weeks old.
But already, Dems are pushing for a repeal and Republicans are planning to try to expand it.
My story: newhampshirebulletin.com/2024/11/25/r... #NHPolitics
Hello BlueSky! I'm Ethan DeWitt, a reporter for the New Hampshire Bulletin. Sending this first post into the void! I cover education, housing, and general state politics and will post my latest articles to this feed. Follow along! #NHPolitics