HAMPTON TAXPAYERS APPEAL TO THE NH SUPREME COURT

An appeal from the Rockingham County Superior Court has been filed with the New Hampshire Supreme Court regarding:

Barnes-Player, et al. v.

Town of Hampton Board of Selectmen (

Docket No. 218-2025-CV-01009

Hampton taxpayers have taken their fight to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, raising a blunt and explosive question:

Can the government tax you before proving it even has the lawful authority to do it?

The lawsuit alleges that the Town of Hampton imposed property taxes without completing the mandatory constitutional and statutory valuation steps required to establish the legal authority to tax property in the first place.

In other words: tax first, justify later.

Instead of addressing that fundamental issue of government power, the Superior Court sidestepped the question entirely, rebranding the case as a routine reassessment or abatement dispute and dismissing it—without ever ruling on whether the tax itself was lawful.

The appeal now asks the New Hampshire Supreme Court to confront the core issue head-on:

Does a town actually have to prove it has authority before taking your property through taxation?

Taxpayers argue that if government can skip the legal prerequisites to taxation, then the constitutional limits on taxation become meaningless.

This case is not about a simple tax bill.

It is about whether the government must follow the law before it reaches into your wallet.

If the courts refuse to answer that question, taxpayers warn, it opens the door to unchecked taxing power with no legal accountability.

The question now before the New Hampshire Supreme Court is simple:

Does the rule of law come before taxation — or after it?

Hampton taxpayers are demanding the answer.