New Hampshire’s state House of Representatives on Wednesday conducted a public hearing designed to gather input on a bill introduced in December that would create a temporary local tax credit for newspapers, radio stations and Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate serving the Granite State.
House Bill 1420, or the “Lift Our Communities Advertise Locally Act,” was introduced by seven Republicans and on independent member of the New Hampshire House.
While much of the language at the front of the bill is focused on the state’s local newspapers, the local advertisement tax credit very much includes broadcast media businesses — but to a certain extent.
The tax credit would be applicable to stations that employ at least one full-time local news journalist that resides in, or within 50 miles of, the broadcast media business’ primary coverage area.
These stations would also need to broadcast local news content “not less frequently than once per week, and has done so continuously for the preceding 12-month period,” the bill reads.
Digital-only media is also able to benefit from the proposed legislation, so long as it derives at least one-third of its audience, averaged over the preceding 12-month period, from its primary coverage area. Earned revenue of at least $1 in the preceding taxable year is also a qualifying factor.
For the eligible business, a credit equaling 80% of its business expenditures toward qualified local media advertising expenses, up to $3,000, can be obtained. The bill adds that expenditures toward qualified local media advertising expenses used to calculate such credit max out at $500,000.
The total amount of tax credits is limited to $5 million per year. Eligibility would conclude in 2029.
Adam Hirshan, publisher of The Laconia Daily Sun, submitted testimony supporting the bill. “This bill recognizes a simple but increasingly urgent reality: local news organizations and local small businesses are interdependent, and both are under significant pressure,” he said. “When small businesses advertise locally, they are not only promoting their own goods and services; they are helping sustain the reporting, editing, and publishing of local news that binds communities together, informs citizens, and strengthens civic life.
“HB 1420 is thoughtfully structured. It is temporary, capped, targeted to small businesses, and limited to bona fide local newspapers and local broadcast media that employ local journalists and provide consistent local coverage,” Hirshan continued. “It excludes large national platforms and programmatic digital advertising that do nothing to support New Hampshire journalism or New Hampshire communities. In short, it incentivizes exactly the kind of economic activity the state should want to encourage.”
More specific qualifications for the tax credit appear here.
