by Steve MacDonald
What do you get when you mix 124 Donkeys and one RINO? A list of NH House reps on the wrong side of a bill to repeal another stupid tax.
The House voted to ax the tent tax, (HB 1445) and repeal the 9% ‘rooms and meals’ tax for people who go to a camp site and provide their own room and their own meal. The bill still needs to pass the State Senate, which has a similar bill all its own, and then get past fence-sitter Lynch whose position we can never know from day to day — not that we can rely on what he says as an indication of how he’ll act once an actual bill is on his desk, but it’s got momentum, even if some of it represented by legislators who are afraid to touch it.
HB 1445 did still have its supporters. Margie Smith tried to table it, but that lost 153 to 171. The tax and spenders then tried to ITL it but that failed 145 to 181. Then when Sherm Packard managed to get an OTP roll call vote to pass the repeal, it succeeded 202 to 125.
68 House Reps did not vote on this bill. A list for another time perhaps.
But 124 Democrats and 1 Republican (Kenneth Gould – Rockingham 5) tried to keep the tax alive and were more than happy to do it for the record. So here’s the record.
See the Roll Call Votes for HB 1445
Note: A “YEA” vote was AGAINST repeal, since the vote was FOR the “ITL” recommendation – Inexpedient to Legislate.