If I told you that there was a state in New England that was giving away tax breaks to out-of-state green energy companies buying up forest land and selling “carbon credits” to offset the “carbon footprint” of left-leaning California businesses, which state would you guess was the culprit? Massachusetts? Vermont? Maine? Literally anyone but New Hampshire?
Well, you might be surprised.
The business of carbon sequestration has come to the Granite State in a big way. Hundreds of thousands of acres of our land is being purchased by out-of-state companies selling this scam to West Coast liberals. Now, I wouldn’t normally have a problem with California raising taxes on companies still foolish enough to headquarter themselves in that state; however, the problem is that these carbon sequestration companies have found a way to take advantage of a loophole in New Hampshire laws that allows them to avoid paying our Timber Tax.
If you don’t know much about the Timber Tax, it was put in place 76 years ago to encourage conservation and boost the timber industry. It is used to offset property taxes of municipalities where timber is being harvested. By sequestering timber for carbon credits, these companies do not pay the Timber Tax despite making a yield from the sequestration. This means that municipalities, often in the most economically depressed areas of our state, must inevitably make up their budget shortfalls with property tax hikes. Essentially, by allowing this loophole, New Hampshire property taxpayers are subsidizing these companies as they buy up our forests to make Bill Gates feel better about flying around in his private jet.
And what do these carbon credit companies look like? About exactly what you’d think – liberal, left-wing, climate alarmists. Looking into one such company that has recently purchased large tracts of land in New Hampshire, I couldn’t help but immediately notice the proud use of terms like “Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) risk factors” and “Socially Responsible Investing (SRI).” If you’re a conservative like me, I’m sure your B.S. antenna just shot through the roof. And if you’re still giving these guys the benefit of the doubt, I’ve also come to find out that one of their parent companies’ executive board includes everyone’s favorite private jet-setting former U.S. Sen. John Kerry.
Not exactly the kind of people I want to see New Hampshire bending over backwards to help – let alone giving preferential tax treatment!
HB 123 would close this tax loophole and end the ridiculous carbon credit subsidy for these left-wing ESG factories. HB 123 is not a new tax as the carbon credit industry’s representatives have tried to convince our legislature. It simply holds that the yield of carbon sequestration is treated exactly the same as the yield of harvesting timber. When timber is put into sequestration, by contract, it cannot be harvested. Thus, the yield of carbon sequestration has the same effect as harvesting the timber as far as the Timber Tax is concerned.
Property taxpayers are made whole, municipalities do not need to make up the shortfall, and most importantly, carbon credit sales are no longer given a free ride.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard a lot of highbrow, scotch-sipping arguments about the theoretical construct of this bill. I look at it for the practical effect. Do we want to be in the business of effectively subsidizing these scam artist green energy companies? Or do we want to lower property taxes for our most needed economically vulnerable areas of the state?
As a Republican, the answer is very easy. Lower taxes, less green energy scams.
