Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    
    Bob,
    
    The dates for filing are the same as that for the federal (approx April
    15).  I don't know the form number but you can get them at most N.H.
    banks / Post Offices in N.H. / your local N.H. library.  The
    instructions come with the form ( approx 4 to 6 pages of instructions).
    If you have over $1200 of interest and/or dividents from non N.H.
    sources, you will have to file a return.
    
    Glenn Bowles
    

	Gov. Merrill has announced his proposed budget.  Hidden in it
	is this change:

		"Imposes the 5% tax on bank account interest held in
		VT and NH banks, ending a blanket exemption now
		threatened by a state lawsuit."

    re: -1
    
    I though NH always had a 5% tax on "unearned" incomes - if the income
    is greater than $400(?) per year. Have I missed something?
    
    Mike

>     I though NH always had a 5% tax on "unearned" incomes - if the income
>     is greater than $400(?) per year. Have I missed something?

	You missed the last part of the quote in .2.  That "income tax"
	has been under fire the last couple of years (or longer?) as
	illegal or something like that.  Ie. you could consider it
	a voluntary tax.  Sounds like Merril wants to make it mandatory
	by closing up the loophole or whatever it is ....

    The 5% tax is on "unearned" interest and dividends EXCEPT for interest
    from NH Banks (DCU Qualifies, as (I believe) Shamut does now with NH
    offices) VT Banks, and dividends from NH and VT Corporations.
    
    Bill
    

>    from NH Banks (DCU Qualifies, as (I believe) Shamut does now with NH

Correction: Shawmut is history. It should be Fleet Bank now.  :-)

    re: .6
    The Fleet/Shawmut merger is not a done deal, lawsuits have been
    filed from both sides!

    re: .4
    How "voluntary" is this tax?  I have read multiple accounts of
    people getting charged with penalties and interest for not paying
    the tax.  The penalties and interest owed was greater than the
    original tax.  I guess I could not pay and then make NH take me
    to court but it hardly seems worth the trouble given the amount
    of money involved here.  any idea who to contact to find out
    more about this?

> How "voluntary" is this tax?  I have read multiple accounts of
> people getting charged with penalties and interest for not paying
> the tax.

	I've been following the newspapers on this for the last
	several years and they've never mentioned the above.

> any idea who to contact to find out more about this?

	good question.  i don't know :-(

	The following was in Sat.'s Nashua paper.  I think it addresses
	why I said up to this point you could consider the tax voluntary
	(because of it's un-constitutionality).  Get your refund requests
	in for past years in ASAP .....

> Concord
Bill would reform tax on investment earnings
[] Fewer rich retirees would pay.
  CONCORD (AP) - About 9,000 fewer people would have to pay a tax on interest
and dividends under a proposal to address concerns that the tax is
unconstitutional.
  Currently, the tax must be paid on interest or dividends from out-of-state
bank accounts or investments, but not on those in NH or VT.  Opponents say that
violates interstate commerce principles, and are challenging it in court.
  A bill to reorganize the tax would remove the exemption.  Gov. Steve Merrill
favors the change to prevent the state from paying more refunds if the tax is
ruled unconstitutional.
  Although people would have to begin filing returns on interest and dividends
earned in VT and NH, the bill raises the excmption from $1,200 to $2,400, and
$3,600 for people over 64, so fewer people would pay, said V. Hummell Berghaus
of the Dept. of Revenue Administration.
  At current interest rates on bank accounts, an elderly couple would be able
to have $240,000 in savings before paying the tax, Berghaus said.
  About 55,000 people pay the tax, which brought in $36 million last year.  The
state would bring in $350,000 in extra revenue under the bill, Berghaus said.
  In addition to the constitutional questions, the tax has become more
difficult to administer since it was implemented in 1923 because of changes in
the banking industry.
  "Since the interest and dividends tax has not changed along with the times,
it has become more and more difficult to properly ascertain what income is
exempt," he said.
  Problems arose with the advent of interestate banking, with NH branches, and
with out-of-state companies that also operate in NH.