by Steve MacDonald
Republished from GraniteGrok
Vermont’s Legislature is working out the final details of Gov. Phil Scott’s proposed $8.4 billion budget. That’s over $12,957 for every man, woman and child in the state. Guess how much New Hampshire’s is.
The final budget for the Granite State will be around $13.9 billion, or $9,743 per resident. Except it’s not. Vermont writes a budget every year, while New Hampshire’s budget is for two years. The spending equivalent per resident per year for Vermont based on the estimated 2024 budget is $12,957. For New Hampshire it is $4,871. Vermont’s government spends 62% more per resident every year. For what?
Some other numbers
The Granite State has twice the population, more than twice the labor force, and a GDP of $82.94 billion (2022) compared to Vermont’s $31.4 billion (2022). New Hampshire has lower and fewer taxes.
WalletHub ranked Vermont as having the fourth highest tax burden by state. New Hampshire was 48th. The Tax Foundation estimates Vermont’s effective tax rate at 12.5% (47th) and New Hampshire’s at 9.6% (16th).
There are other variables, and everyone has work to do, and yes, there are a lot of federal funds used in both state budgets. But those are costs that, if the feds went belly up tomorrow, the state would have to shoulder (more taxes) or cut.
Overall, New Hampshire is consistently safer, has a higher standard of living, has lower welfare and poverty rates, and has better health outcomes.
Democrat rule has placed Vermont in hospice while we wait for it to die like every other Democrat-run hell-hole in America.
Note to Free State Projects. Where are those tens of thousands of liberty-minded folks we were promised? If they don’t get here soon, it could be too late because the cauldron of poison bubbling in Vermont has been spilling across the Connecticut River for years. If we don’t dilute that influence, we may all be looking for another state in which we have some hope to live free before we die.