Property Taxes

Wendy Larson for New Hampshire State Representative Rockingham District 19, serving Kensington and Hampton Falls

Lower property taxes start with Concord paying its share

If opening your property tax bill makes you wince, you have company. Wendy Larson pays that bill too, and as a member of the Kensington School Board she sees exactly why it keeps climbing.

Why your bill keeps going up

It is not because your neighbors on the school board or select board are careless with money. It is because the state keeps handing its bills to our towns.

  • The state pays $4,266 per student toward the basic cost of school. New Hampshire's Supreme Court has said the real minimum is at least $7,356. The difference, about $3,090 for every student, lands on local property taxpayers.

  • The state used to pay 35% of retirement costs for local teachers, police, and firefighters. It walked away from that promise, and towns picked up the cost.

  • The typical homeowner now pays about $9,400 a year in Kensington and about $10,700 in Hampton Falls.

What Wendy will do

Wendy has a simple idea: when the state pays what it owes, you pay less. Here is how she will get there.

  • Bring back the Interest and Dividends Tax. It raised about $184 million a year, and roughly 90% of it was paid by the top fifth of earners. When it ended in 2025, that burden moved toward homeowners.

  • Say no to new business tax cuts that leave a hole for property owners to fill.

  • Keep New Hampshire free of a tax on wages and free of a sales tax. Wendy opposes both.

  • Vote to raise state school aid to the level the court set.

  • Bring back a state share of retirement costs for teachers, police, and firefighters.

  • Make sure new state money shows up as a lower school tax rate on your bill, not as extra spending.

How it gets paid for

Wendy spent 40 years in business, and she knows a promise needs a budget behind it. She would restore the Interest and Dividends Tax, return Education Freedom Accounts to families who need the help, and keep cannabis dollars in New Hampshire through licensed private stores.

What you will notice

A smaller school line on your tax bill. Town and school budgets that are easier to pass, because fewer costs are being pushed down from Concord. And a representative who tells you plainly where your money goes.

Wendy has lived in Kensington for more than 40 years. She is not going to Concord to ask for favors. She is going to ask the state to keep its word.

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