Without even giving a reason, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear New Hampshire’s challenge to a change in Massachusetts’ tax laws that imposed Bay State income taxes on New Hampshire residents working remotely from home.
U.S. Congressman Chris Pappas criticized the decision to reject the case without explanation, and said he plans to help reintroduce the Multi-State Worker Tax Fairness Act, which he helped to introduce in the last Congress, to clarify that workers are required to pay income tax only to the state where they were physically present while working. In New Hampshire’s case, where there is no income tax, remote work for employers based in other states would not need to pay any state income tax.
Massachusetts formerly required Granite State residents to pay income tax for work they performed in that state, but during the pandemic when many people were working from home, the Bay State made a “temporary” change in the law to tax income for work performed entirely outside that state. It has since extended that temporary rule indefinitely.
Insights Into Laconia Murder
Mike Mortensen interviewed the daughter of Wilfred Guzman Sr., who was murdered two years ago, in an article appearing in Tuesday’s Laconia Daily Sun. Natashia Guzman remains confused by the crime for which police have charged Hassan Sapry, a friend of the family with whom she had attended classes to learn English.
Police say Guzman had a fractured skull and multiple wounds likely made by a samurai sword, and that when they went to Sapry’s home, they found found three wallets, along with credit cards, a driver’s license, and passport, all belonging to Guzman. They also found several items of clothing with dried blood stains, and a broken knife that was similar to knives they found in Guzman’s apartment.
Defense Attorney Mark Sisti plans to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, saying that Sapry “suffers and did suffer from a major mental illness.” The notice to plead insanity says Sapry’s mental illness is due “primarily to [his] being exposed to significant atrocities while he was a child in Iraq,” including “witnessing his classmates killed and injured when a suicide bomber detonated a device at his school, the killing of servicemen in close proximity to him; and the kidnapping and torture of his father.”
Divisive Budget
Nancy West of InDepthNH.org reports that 10 of the 17 members of the Governor’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion resigned because of the state budget language that included a watered-down version of the prohibition against teaching “divisive concepts” such as racism and sexism. The amended version prohibits teaching students or public employees that one ethnic group is inherently superior to another or that one inherently discriminates against another.
The letter to Governor Chris Sununu said, “On June 25, 2021 you signed into law a provision that aims to censor conversations essential to advancing equity and inclusion in our state, specifically for those within our public education systems, and all state employees. This will directly impact those who are working with some of our state’s most vulnerable populations, including educators, child welfare workers, and law enforcement.”
Ahni Malachi, chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion and executive director of the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights, said, “The new language placed as a budget amendment does not place a limit on the important discussions to be had across the state, and this new language took out the phrase ‘divisive concepts’ as it worked its way through the legislative process.” Without that language, it will take some time to determine how to implement what is left.
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