One question on every ballot in New Hampshire. Watch the 60-second explainer, download it to share, and get straight answers below.
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Short answers to what voters ask most about the property tax cap.
It is one question on the November 3, 2026 ballot in every town and city ward in New Hampshire. It asks: should your town cap how fast school property taxes grow?
A new state law, HB 1300, put it there. House Republicans passed it, and Governor Kelly Ayotte signed it.
For two years, two limits apply:
60 percent. Not half. The law requires a three-fifths vote.
The votes are added up across every town and city ward in your school district. For the central office cap, they are added up across your whole SAU.
Every YES counts.
After the last race. If there is no room on the front, it is printed on the back, with a notice on the front. If the back will not work, your town uses a separate ballot at the same polling place. Turn your ballot over. Don’t skip it.
Your town’s ballot may look different from the one in the video.
They can, but only so fast. The cap lets the school tax grow each year with inflation and with new taxable property. Growth past that takes an override vote.
No. On top of inflation, the limit grows with new taxable property, such as new homes and businesses.
SAU central office spending can be no more than 6 percent of the school budget, not counting bond payments.
The central office is the administration that is not based in a school. It includes the superintendent and assistant superintendents, the business office, finance, payroll, purchasing, human resources, district IT, legal and public relations.
The goal is to keep school money in the classroom, not the bureaucracy.
No. Payments on bonds to buy, build or do major renovation of school buildings are left out of both caps.
Two years. A cap adopted this November covers the 2027–28 and 2028–29 school years. The question comes back on the 2028 ballot, so you vote on it again.
Yes. In a school district with an annual meeting, voters can go over the cap with a three-fifths vote. In a city, the school budget can go over the cap only by the supermajority in the city charter.
Then there is no new cap in your school district. The question comes back on the ballot in November 2028.
No. It covers only the school property tax and the SAU central office. It does not cap other town or city spending.
Any tax cap your town or city already has stays in place.
House Republicans passed HB 1300. The final votes were on June 4, 2026: 183–170 in the House and 15–8 in the Senate. Governor Kelly Ayotte signed it on July 15, 2026. It is Chapter 324 of the 2026 laws, and the cap is in RSA 32:5-i.
Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Polling hours are set by each town, so check yours before you go. Find your polling place and sample ballot with the NH Secretary of State’s voter lookup.
Sources: the text of RSA 32:5-i and the HB 1300 docket, New Hampshire General Court.
Commit to voting on November 3, and we will send you your polling place and your House candidates.
Take the pledge NH Secretary of StateLook up where you vote, and view the sample ballots for your town.
Look it up NH Secretary of StateThe official list of the questions on the November 3 ballot, with the tax cap question word for word.
Get the PDF NH General CourtRSA 32:5-i, the full text of the tax cap: the two limits, the vote it takes, and how an override works.
Read RSA 32:5-i NH General CourtThe bill’s full history: the House and Senate roll calls, and the Governor’s signature.
See the votes Our promisePromise number two: cap your property tax. See all seven promises House Republicans made in writing.
Read the promisesTuesday, November 3. Look after the last race on your ballot, and turn it over if you have to. Don’t skip it.