They Asked. Granite Staters Answered.

March 22, 2026 · Taxes

The Saint Anselm College Survey Center released new polling Monday on where New Hampshire voters stand on an income tax. The topline number is clear: 71% of voters oppose it. But the partisan breakdown tells a more complicated story about where the debate is heading.

71%

of New Hampshire voters oppose a state income tax. Just 22% support it. 58% strongly oppose. The margin is more than three to one.
Saint Anselm College Survey Center, March 16-18, 2026. n=1,491, MoE +/- 2.5%

43%

of registered Democrats support an income tax. That's a significant base of support within one party, even though 47% of Democrats still oppose it. Among Democratic voters who identify strongly with the party, support climbs higher.
Saint Anselm College Survey Center, March 2026

92%

of Republicans oppose an income tax. Only 5% support it. On the Republican side, this is settled.
Saint Anselm College Survey Center, March 2026

The Numbers

Group	Support	Oppose	Unsure
All Voters	22%	71%	7%
Republicans	5%	92%	3%
Undeclared	20%	73%	6%
Democrats	43%	47%	11%

Source: Saint Anselm College Survey Center, March 2026. By party registration.

The Democratic Number

The headline is the 71%. But the number worth watching is the 43%.

Forty-three percent of registered Democrats in New Hampshire now support implementing a state income tax. That is not a fringe position within the party. It is nearly half the Democratic electorate. Among self-described "very liberal" voters, 51% support it. Even among moderates, 17% are on board.

House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson said after the 3-3 plan was announced that "New Hampshire House Democrats will not support an income tax." The poll suggests her caucus is more divided than that statement implies. The gap between the party's official position and where its voters are heading is worth paying attention to.

If Democratic support for an income tax continues to grow, the question stops being whether voters want one and starts being whether enough Democratic legislators get elected to pass one. The current legislature won't. A future one might, depending on how 2026 and 2028 go.

The Undeclared Wall

The reason an income tax remains politically impossible isn't just Republicans. It's undeclared voters. Seventy-three percent of undeclared voters oppose it. Only 20% support it. In a state where undeclared voters are the largest bloc of the electorate, that margin is a wall.

Any candidate who campaigns on an income tax has to win undeclared voters to win statewide. At 73% opposition, that math doesn't work. Andru Volinsky learned this in 2020 when he ran for governor on an income tax platform and lost the Democratic primary. The voters who decide close elections in New Hampshire have made their position clear.

What Other States Teach Us

Connecticut introduced a state income tax in 1991 at 4.5%. Supporters promised it would stay low and reduce property taxes. Today the top rate is 6.99%. Property taxes are the 3rd highest in the nation. The state carries $79 billion in debt. GE left. Aetna left. The population is shrinking. We covered the full Connecticut story here.

New Jersey has had an income tax since 1976. It started at 2%. The top rate is now 10.75%. Property taxes are the highest in the nation. New Jersey ranks dead last in the Tax Foundation's business tax climate index. A manufacturer in New Jersey pays $262,000 more per year in state taxes than the same business in New Hampshire.

Massachusetts added a 4% surtax on income above $1 million in 2022, pushing the top rate to 9%. Within two years, over 20,000 Massachusetts residents relocated to New Hampshire.

No state that has introduced an income tax has used it to meaningfully reduce property taxes over the long term. The income tax gets added. Then it goes up. Then the property tax goes up too.

The History

New Hampshire voters have been asked this question for half a century. The answer has never changed.

In 1999, the House narrowly passed an income tax during a fight over school funding. Governor Shaheen killed it. In 2012, the legislature put a constitutional amendment to ban an income tax on the ballot. It got 57% of the vote, a clear majority, but fell short of the two-thirds supermajority required to amend the constitution.

Democrat John Lynch took the no-income-tax pledge all four times he ran for governor. He won all four times. In March 2026, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne brought another constitutional amendment to the floor. It got 194 votes, but needed 236 (three-fifths of the full 392-member House) to pass. It fell 42 votes short. The Senate's version, CACR 12, is still pending.

What New Hampshire Has

New Hampshire is one of only two states with no income tax and no sales tax. It ranks #3 in the Tax Foundation's business tax climate index. #1 in freedom from the Cato Institute. It has the lowest poverty rate in America, the 3rd highest median household income, and an unemployment rate consistently below 3%.

Companies are moving here because of this. SynQor and Analogic moved 750 jobs from Massachusetts to Salem in a single year. BAE Systems is expanding by 800 jobs in Manchester. Fidelity has hired over 1,200 in Merrimack. Albany International moved its global headquarters to Portsmouth. We covered the business migration in Open for Business.

Where This Goes

The poll says 71% of New Hampshire voters oppose an income tax. That number is overwhelming and it has been stable for decades. On its face, the debate is over.

But 43% of Democrats support one. That number is growing. The 3-3 plan was not introduced as legislation and it was rejected by Democratic leadership, but it wasn't rejected by 43% of Democratic voters. The gap between where the party's base is heading and where its leaders say they stand is the story to watch.

New Hampshire's tax advantage depends on the people who show up in November. The poll says the majority is on the right side. Whether it stays there depends on who votes.