Our family moved from Massachusetts to New Hampshire in 2014. My wife and I included the income tax savings (as remote employees for Massachusetts based companies) in our affordability calculations and settled in a beautiful community within the Boston MSA. We were far from the first ones to discover the benefits of looking north of the border. Population growth and development in our town and region prove that other families and individuals have come to a similar realization.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has historically taxed non-resident income generated while working within the state’s borders. In the past, Massachusetts credited taxpayers for days spent out of state. Form 1 NR/PY has a worksheet incorporated in the document for earners to apportion their income. Remote employees have received refunds for any withholdings. Every non-resident with a worksite in Massachusetts could have filed every year for a refund on vacation days, paid holidays, sick leave, and off-site days.

Gov. Baker’s Emergency Order prevented New Hampshire residents from traveling to Massachusetts and shut down many of the offices my neighbors and friends commuted to five days a week. Someone on Beacon Hill connected the dots and raised questions on lost state revenue from nearly 100,000 employees. The emergency order quickly extended to include taxation for non-residents who could no longer work in Massachusetts to remedy a growing budget deficit. The administrative reach was without process and retro-active.

I fully support Gov. Sununu and Attorney General MacDonald’s dedicated efforts to represent New Hampshire’s citizens.

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