Rebuild Local News Supports New Hampshire Bill Creating a Win-Win for Small Businesses and Local News

On January 21, Policy Manager Lori Henson testified before the New Hampshire House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee in support of HB1420, which would create a tax credit for small businesses that advertise in local news:

Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, Chairman Janigian, and Vice Chairman Jordan Ulery, thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of HB1420 – a small business advertising tax credit.

My name is Lori Henson and I am a policy manager with Rebuild Local News. We are the leading nonpartisan nonprofit coalition representing 3,000 newsrooms and more than 15,000 journalists. We develop and advocate for effective public policies designed to strengthen community news and information.

The reason I am here today is to urge you to vote in favor of HB1420, a smart and effective way to support both New Hampshire small businesses and essential news coverage in communities all over the state.

While tax relief for small businesses is important for the state’s economy and for the health of those small businesses, this particular tax credit has a double benefit. In addition to crediting small businesses for 80 percent – up to $3,000 – of the advertising costs they spend with local New Hampshire news outlets, that credit encourages small businesses to keep their advertising dollars local.

In other words, this is not only a tax relief bill, but a buy local bill.

This tax credit, in returning advertising costs to small businesses, ultimately supports essential news coverage in communities throughout the state.

Small businesses of all kinds – from restaurants to roofing companies – would qualify for the credit when they advertise their products and services with local news outlets. And the local news outlets – many of which are small businesses themselves – turn the advertising dollars incentivized by this policy into news coverage of communities through newspapers, digital news sites, broadcast TV and radio stations.

And that incentive is needed now more than ever. Last year, Rebuild Local News, in partnership with Muck Rack, released a study of the number of journalists serving communities in every state. The study found that our nation has lost, on average, 75% of community journalists since 2002. New Hampshire falls smack in the middle of that trend, having lost 740 journalism jobs or 57% of its local reporters between 2013 and 2023. The state averages fewer than 9 journalists for every 100,000 residents in the state.

These numbers are not just bad for local news, they represent real risks to
communities. Research shows that when a local news outlet closes, communities face higher borrowing costs, lower voter turnout, fewer choices of candidates on the ballot, more government waste and corruption and more corporate crime. Local news benefits communities in countless ways.

This tax credit is not a cure-all for local news, but it is an effective way to keep public dollars – and reliable local news and information – in New Hampshire.

I appreciate your support of HB1420. Thank you.