by Dale Fincher
Originally published in Granite State News, May 14, 2026
Dear Editor:
We all recognize the affordability needs in New Hampshire. Rising home prices, expensive gas, and increasing energy costs are squeezing families. But beware: some candidates promise to fix affordability while offering solutions to make NH like our unaffordable New England neighbors.
Democrats claim they’ll solve our affordability needs, yet their main proposals include raising income taxes. That’s not relief but a cost, trading one burden for another. An income tax centralizes power in Concord, eroding the local control we’ve always cherished in New Hampshire.
Worse, as we’ve seen with Democrats following this playbook around the country, their vision comes with strings attached at higher costs: expanding government subsidies that drive taxes even higher, threatening the electoral college, removing local control, softening penalties for crime, formalizing sanctuary cities, and an agenda that always includes restricting Constitutional gun rights, pushing abortion on demand, threatening medical freedom, and making our women and girls more vulnerable. These changes are COSTS that threaten the culture, heritage, communities, and freedoms that define our state and future.
We must never surrender to short-term pressure at the expense of long-term pain. The path to affordability isn’t through higher taxes and more government traps. Real affordability comes through business growth and local involvement. The answer is within our reach. We start by linking arms with locals that share our concerns. Show up at town meetings, deliberative sessions, and school board meetings. Bring friends. Vote in Town Elections. Engage where decisions are actually made by names and faces we already know who meet right down the street.
That’s why I’m running for State Representative. As your representative, I will fight to keep taxes low, preserve local control, and support legislation that empowers locals, not bureaucrats. We can make New Hampshire both affordable AND free.
