Granite State Taxpayers Announces Results of the 2010 Candidate Survey
“Granite State Taxpayers protects the rights of New Hampshire taxpayers by advocating for laws and regulations beneficial to taxpayers, for reducing government spending, and for more efficient government services,” said Stephen Stepanek, Chairman of the Granite State Taxpayers Board of Directors. “In July we sent questionnaires to candidates for New Hampshire State offices (Governor, Executive Councilor, Senate and House) to determine their positions on topics of interest to taxpayers. We’ve posted their answers on our website for voters to see.”
The survey asked candidates their positions on the following questions:
Would you support decreasing state spending or at least stopping any increase in state spending?
Will you oppose any broad-based tax, such as an income tax, sales tax, or consumption tax, or any other effort to increase the overall tax burden on New Hampshire citizens?
Do you believe that educational funding should be resolved by the legislature and not the court?
Will you support openness and accountability in state government by establishing a system of management based upon goals, reviews and metrics for each government program and department, plus putting state spending records on-line for the public?
A “Yes” answer would indicate agreement with the Granite State Taxpayer position. Candidates were scored from 1 to 4 based upon their “Yes” responses to the four questions.
“All of these are issues that relate to the level of state funding, to taxes, to the ability to balance budgets, to reduction and management of State obligations or to providing a business climate conducive to expanding our current business base and attracting others,” said Stepanek.
Click here for results of the 2010 Candidate Survey, including candidate scores.
Granite State Taxpayers is New Hampshire’s oldest statewide taxpayer association. Founded in 1990 by former Governor Mel Thomson and former State Senator George Lovejoy, our mission is to inform, educate and motivate New Hampshire taxpayers and to lobby the legislature on their behalf.