Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tax Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate bill would reclassify electric generators as manufacturers for property-tax purposes; industry and assessors debate reporting
Summary
Senate Bill 277 would move nonutility electric generators out of the utility property tax regime and subject them to the state's business/industry assessment (SWEP), sponsor Senator Tim Lang told the committee.
Senator Tim Lang, sponsor of Senate Bill 277, told the Senate Ways and Means Committee the bill aims to align property taxation with the current structure of the electric generation industry.
"We're gonna move them from being a regulated utility which they no longer are into being a manufacturer and have them subject to the SWAP," Lang said, describing the change as a parity measure so generators are taxed like other commercial manufacturing facilities.
The bill follows a multi-year study commission and drew support from generation trade groups. Madeline Minao of the Granite State Hydropower Association said the commission met for three years and its report informed the bill; she and other generators supported language preserving existing payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) contracts until they expire and allowing a transition to the new tax regime.
Representatives of non-utility generators argued the current dual-assessment system is duplicative and unique nationally: plants face a Department of Revenue Administration utility assessment and a separate municipal assessment. Molly Connors of the New England Power Generators Association told the committee New Hampshire is the only state that subjects generators to two distinct property tax assessments and said generators should be taxed like other commercial enterprises.
Municipal assessors, represented by Brody Deshais, expressed concern about the bill's reporting and information flows. Assessors asked that certain financial reporting that DRA will receive also be shared with local assessors, arguing local assessors need more data to produce accurate fair-market valuations and to reduce appeals.
Senator Lang offered and the committee adopted an amendment preserving existing PILOT agreements until expiration and adding DRA-requested clarifying effective-date language. In executive session the committee voted to advance the bill; the committee also adopted DRA's requested effective date language that sets a July 1, 2027 effective date and applies the change to taxpayers beginning April 1, 2028.
