O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
New Hampshire is hurting right now. With high gas prices brought on by supply issues, the greed of the oil companies, and a devastating European war, the burden is being borne by lower-income Granite Staters just like it was in 2008 when the bankers got bailouts and everyone else got pink slips. Couple that with wages that have remained stagnant for 40 years, and the refusal by the Republican majority in Concord to adopt a minimum wage that keeps up with the times, and you have a recipe for downward economic pressure. Granite Staters need the help of the social safety net now more than ever.
Which is why it’s so confusing that on Thursday, March 17, Republicans in the New Hampshire House passed HB 1221, a bill rushed through ahead of schedule by Majority Leader Jason Osborne himself, that cut the Corporate Profits Tax by millions of dollars. At the same time, Republicans passed HB 1165, which repealed the admittedly weak Granite State Paid Family Leave Plan.
Polls show time and time again that the vast majority of Americans – on both sides of the aisle – oppose tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, and they want the privileged few to start paying their fair share in taxes. In no world does it make any sense to look at the economic issues currently being faced by working- and lower-income Americans and think, “you know what would make this better? If we gave Walmart a tax cut!”
Even more confusing were the contradictory arguments that House Republicans made to support these devastating votes. HB 1165, repealing the Governor’s “Paid Family Leave Plan”, was passed by the House on the grounds that “PFML costs money,” and “it will get bigger” as a consequence of people signing up to use it. While the Governor’s admittedly weak “paid family leave” “plan” only offered paid leave to few Granite Staters, and didn’t offer enough of an income reimbursement for those earning under $50,000 to use it, the Democrats were happy to study the plan and improve it, instead of just throwing it away and saying “here’s our offer; nothing. You get nothing”, as the Republican majority chose to do.
It’s incomprehensible to us how Republican elected officials can say “We don’t have enough money for Paid Family Leave,” as they write checks in the form of tax cuts to the largest corporations in and out of the State of New Hampshire. As elected Republicans in Washington and Concord invent moral panics about whatever culture-war they choose to exploit this week, they are ignoring the real material needs and interests of the common, everyday person, including the working-class people who vote for them. We’re left to ask only, “what are the NHGOP’s priorities?”
Beg to differ? Agree to disagree? This is your platform. Send your thoughtful prose on topics of general interest, or rebuttals, to publisher@manchesterinklink.com, subject line: The Soapbox.
