NH PROPERTY TAXES ON UNREALIZED MARKET GAINS - A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS STILL WAITING FOR THE ROCKINGHAM SUPERIOR COURT TO ANSWER

The plaintiffs challenge Hampton’s 2024 revaluation as unconstitutional, unlawful, and fundamentally defective, arguing that the Town based its property tax assessments on unrealized, hypothetical market gains rather than on each property’s actual, full and true value, as required by Part II Article 5 of the New Hampshire Constitution.

A Motion to amend along with an amended complaint was recently filed. This version includes calculated unfair taxation for 2025, showing there will be a cumulative effect of the disproportionality carried forward year after year.

MOTION TO AMEND COMPLAINT.pdf

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MOTION FOR RELIEF - AMENDED - FOR PUBLIC.pdf

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The amended complaint stresses that taxing residents on speculative, imaginary market appreciation—value they have not realized, received, or benefited from—is an unconstitutional tax on unrealized gains, violating both:

The constitutional requirement that taxes be proportional and based on “just and equal valuation,” and

Statutory mandates that assessments reflect a property’s real value, not hypothetical sales estimates, not market froth, and not modeled projections.

The New Hampshire Constitution specifically requires that property is taxed based on its current use.

Therefore a property that has not been sold should NOT be taxed as if it was.

The plaintiffs request certain relief from the Rockingham County Superior Court, including a declaratory judgment that rules Hampton’s 2024 assessments violate the U.S. Constitution AND the New Hampshire Constitution, as the assessments primarilyrely on hypothetical market values rather than actual property value, and

An order compelling the Town to void the 2024 revaluation and revert back to 2019 assessed values townwide until assessments consistent with lawful constitutional requirements can be conducted.

Despite the urgency of the constitutional violations and the direct, immediate financial harm to taxpayers, the Rockingham Superior Court has provided absolutely no response

—no hearing, no scheduling order, and no action whatsoever.

This prolonged silence leaves taxpayers exposed to unlawful and disproportional property tax bills, despite the Court’s obligation to address claimed constitutional violations in a timely manner.

In summary, New Hampshire cannot tax property owners on unrealized gains or hypothetical market value.

Basing taxation on theoretical sales prices—prices never obtained, never realized, and often impossible to achieve—is flatly unconstitutional under Part II, Article 5.

Taxation must be:

• Real, not imagined.

• Actual, not speculative.

• Based on true value, not fictitious market projections.

Hampton’s 2024 revaluation replaces true valuation with market speculation, converting property taxation into a tax on unrealized, hypothetical gains, which the US Constitution does not permit.