A N.H. Democrat proposed an income tax. The state's Libertarian Party issued a death threat

A Democratic activist in New Hampshire floated an idea to lower property taxes in the state by imposing an income tax. In response, the state's Libertarian Party posted a death threat online, saying it was "perfectly permissible to kill" the politician who made the proposal.

While the state's political leaders, including Gov. Kelly Ayotte, have condemned the tax proposal, few have spoken out against the death threats.

"It's reprehensible. It's an effort to shut me up," said Andru Volinsky, a Democrat who served in elective office in New Hampshire for several years and ran for governor in 2020. He leads a group called "Cut Our Property Taxes,” an effort that has put a target on his back after rolling out its proposal for a statewide income tax.

New Hampshire is famous for having no income tax at all — what some call "The New Hampshire Advantage." It's also known for its uncompromising state motto, "Live Free or Die." Now, those two ideas are fueling a controversy many in the state see as deadly serious.

Without an income tax, New Hampshire towns impose notoriously high property taxes to pay for local services, including schools, according to Volinsky. In his view, the current system is unfair to lower-income homeowners. He said the state has attracted lots of older, wealthy people "who have moved here to avoid paying taxes." And, he said, "working- and middle-class people are struggling beyond belief."

So, Volinsky's plan would reduce and cap property taxes and impose a 3% income tax. He said it would fund local schools, give most residents a sizable tax break and make the system fairer.

"This makes a lot of sense, but sense does not seem to be in good supply when it comes to taxes in New Hampshire," he said.

In a state where many Democrats and Republicans alike take "the pledge," a promise never to impose an income tax, Volinsky's tax plan sparked immediate blowback.

Ayotte, the Republican governor, posted on X: “No income tax, no sales tax. Not now, not EVER.”

Even House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson posted, "House Democrats don't support an income tax."

But it was a post from the state's Libertarian Party that shocked many in the state. It said Volinsky's proposal was tantamount to forced labor and that "under libertarian ethical theory, it is perfectly permissible to kill him.”

The post, which appeared on X earlier this month, has since been taken down.

But Volinsky, noting that the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire's account on X has more than 100,000 followers, said he has no choice but to take the threat seriously.

"I can't begin to imagine how I identify who's a threat to me and who is not," Volinsky said, adding that the situation is especially frightening because he lives in a rural area. And he doesn't own a gun, he said.

Volinsky said he's grateful to local police and to the state's Attorney General, who are investigating the threat. But he's disappointed that the Governor has yet to condemn the death threat; and that the chairman of the state Democratic Party, Raymond Buckley, waited more than a week before he criticized the post.

In an emailed statement to WBUR, Buckley said, "We strongly condemn political violence and remain committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect.”

Others in New Hampshire are speaking out in support of Volinsky, urging all political leaders in the state to denounce the threat.

"We have an epidemic of political violence in America and we need to be in a position where both the right and the left condemn it unequivocally," said  Christian Urrutia, a Democrat running for Congress in the state's first Congressional district, which covers the eastern half of the state. He called the silence from some of the state's leaders "highly disappointing."

The Libertarian Party responded to Urrutia with another threat on X — urging him to "leave New Hampshire while it's safe for you to do so."

This isn't the first time the state's Libertarian Party has faced scrutiny over violent threats. Back in 2024, the FBI looked into allegations that the party was responsible for a post that said, "anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero."

WBUR contacted the New Hampshire Libertarian Party on X to ask if death threats were an acceptable part of political discourse. The party tweeted back an image of the Declaration of Independence.

WBUR reached out several times by phone call and text to Ayotte's office about the most recent death threats, but received no response.

There's "a political calculus" behind the governor's silence, according to Urrutia, who said Ayotte and other political leaders in the state are reluctant to condemn the death threats against Volinsky because they might be accused of supporting his income tax plan. Such is the power of "the pledge." Urrutia also said many Republicans lawmakers in Concord, who control the state legislature, embrace many of the goals of the Libertarians.

"The majority leader is affiliated with them," Urrutia said, referring to Jason Osborne.

Urrutia said the state's Libertarian Party is more than a fringe political movement; it's "at the center and the heart of the Republican party at the state level."

Two days after the income tax plan was rolled out, Osborne proposed an amendment to the state constitution to outlaw income taxes forever. He said the amendment "codifies the New Hampshire advantage into the constitution where it belongs."

"No income tax, not now, not ever," Osborne told his fellow legislators, echoing Ayotte's language opposing an income tax.

Republicans couldn't muster a three-fifths majority, so the measure failed to pass.

Meanwhile, Osborne never condemned the death threats. When WBUR reached out for a comment, he didn't respond.

WBUR also contacted Republican State Rep. Travis Corcoran, from the town of Weare who's slated to be keynote speaker at the Libertarian Party's state convention later this month. In an email, Corcoran declined to respond to WBUR’s questions — but lashed out, calling the station "a regime propaganda organ for the ghey-race-communist-elite that have ruined America."

The representative is no stranger to controversy. He authored a racist post in 2025 blaming all gun violence on African Americans. And on Wednesday, House Speaker Sherman Packard reprimanded Corcoran for "recent rhetoric," including antisemitic and racist statements on social media.

Arnie Arnesen, a former state legislator and a radio host in New Hampshire, said she's horrified by the refusal of so many of the state's political leaders to respond to the death threats.

"This is not about taxes, this is about threatening someone's life," she said.

Arnesen said it's particularly worrying that this is happening in New Hampshire, which will hold the nation's first Republican presidential primary in 2028, as it begins to chart a post-Donald Trump course.

"This is where the party comes to regroup and figure out what their future is" she said.

There's a saying in politics: "As New Hampshire goes, so goes the nation." That an effort to consider new ways to fund local services could devolve into death threats — and then silence by some leaders — shows how political discourse in America has become dangerously polarized, Arnesen said.