Cassandra Prescott

Dear Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, I am writing to respectfully oppose HB 1580, HB 1707, HB 1068, and SB 634 due to their cumulative impact on tax fairness, property rights, and housing affordability for families across New Hampshire. My husband and I have been coming to our lake community in New Hampshire since we were children. Some of our earliest and most meaningful family memories are tied to this place, and our decision to purchase a home there was motivated by a desire to preserve those experiences and share them with our own children, extended family, and friends. This is not an investment property or a commercial venture—it is a family home with deep personal roots. Like many middle-class homeowners, the only way we are able to afford owning and maintaining our small three-bedroom home is by offsetting expenses through limited short-term rentals. We do not rent our home to make a profit. Rental income helps cover basic carrying costs such as property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and utilities in a market where property values and ownership costs have increased dramatically in recent years. Although our home is modest in size, its assessed value exceeds $500,000 due to market conditions rather than scale or income potential. HB 1580’s proposed surcharge on non-primary residences above this threshold, as well as HB 1707’s proposed tax on “unoccupied” properties, raises serious concerns around tax equity and ability-to-pay. These measures risk imposing additional and potentially duplicative taxation on homeowners who already pay full local property taxes, without regard to actual rental income or personal use of the property. HB 1068’s proposal to redefine short-term rentals as hotels is particularly troubling. Our home is not a hotel and does not operate as a commercial lodging business. Reclassifying residential homes as hotels would represent a significant departure from New Hampshire’s long-standing treatment of short-term rentals as a residential use and would expose individual homeowners to zoning and regulatory frameworks intended for commercial enterprises. SB 634 would further compound these impacts by allowing additional local occupancy fees, layering new costs and administrative complexity onto homeowners who already contribute through property taxes and the existing rooms and meals tax. For these reasons, I respectfully request the following: • **HB 1580:** Please oppose this bill, as a valuation-based surcharge on non-primary residences unfairly penalizes modest, family-owned homes and fails to account for actual income or ability to pay. • **HB 1707:** Please oppose this bill, as taxing “unoccupied” property risks duplicative taxation and imposes new burdens on responsible homeowners who already fully support their municipalities through property taxes. • **HB 1068:** Please oppose this bill, as redefining short-term rentals as hotels fundamentally undermines New Hampshire’s residential property framework and inappropriately applies commercial regulation to family homes. • **SB 634:** Please oppose this bill, as authorizing additional local occupancy fees adds unnecessary cost and complexity to homeowners already subject to state-level rooms and meals taxes. Taken together, these bills do not sufficiently distinguish between institutional investors, large-scale operators, and families like ours who rely on limited rentals simply to make ownership feasible. The likely outcome is not increased housing availability or improved community stability, but the displacement of long-time homeowners and the consolidation of property ownership in the hands of larger, well-capitalized operators. I urge the Committee to consider policy approaches that preserve property rights, maintain predictable and equitable tax treatment, and recognize the legitimate residential use of homes by families who are deeply invested in New Hampshire’s communities. Thank you for your time and consideration.