The Union Leader argues that the LLC tax may be the latest of many new taxes on New Hampshire businesses.

Do owners of limited liability companies pay their fair share of taxes to the state of New Hampshire?

The state used to think so. Then Gov. John Lynch and the Democratic majority in Concord found themselves with a budget unbalanced by hundreds of millions of dollars. Suddenly, a tax system established for the purpose of treating LLC owners fairly was deemed a “loophole.”

All LLCs pay, and have always paid, state business taxes. It is incorrect to suggest, as some have, that LLCs avoid taxation in New Hampshire. The state never applied the interest and dividends tax to LLCs that have nontransferable shares because the state had always considered any “dividends” collected by the owners to be the equivalent of compensation for work performed. Therefore, to tax it would be to impose an income tax.