A Democratic politician in New Hampshire who proposed lowering property taxes by introducing an income tax received a death threat from state’s Libertarian Party, which used a posting on X to say it was “perfectly permissible to kill” someone making that suggestion.
WBUR reports Andru Volinksi, an attorney who served on the Executive Council of New Hampshire from the Second District from 2017 to 2021 and ran for governor in 2020, is now leading the “Cut Our Property Taxes” initiative. New Hampshire’s property taxes are significant, which he has blamed on the lack of a state income tax. Volinksi observed that many older and wealthy people “have moved here to avoid paying taxes,” creating a disadvantage for “working- and middle-class people are struggling beyond belief.”
Volinsky proposed reducing and capping property taxes while starting a 3% income tax.
“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 stated.
Both Democratic state leaders and Gov. Kelly Ayotte, the Republican governor, oppose the income tax idea. But the state’s Libertarian Party posted on X that “under libertarian ethical theory, it is perfectly permissible to kill him” for making that suggestion. A follow-up post insisted it was “morally legitimate” to kill a politician who would introduce an income tax in the state.
The posts have since been taken down, but Volinsky was not mollified by the removal, noting the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s account on X has more than 100,000 followers.
“I can’t begin to imagine how I identify who’s a threat to me and who is not,” Volinsky said.
While local police and the state’s Attorney General investigated the threat, Democratic Party leader Raymond Buckley waited a week to condemn it and Ayotte said nothing about it.
Christian Urrutia, a Democrat running for Congress in the state’s first Congressional district, issued a statement that said, “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.” However, the Libertarian Party responded to Urrutia on X by suggesting he should “leave New Hampshire while it’s safe for you to do so.”
The state’s Libertarian Party has a history of using X to encourage violence against elected officials. In 2024, the FBI probed claims that the party was responsible for an X post that said, “Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero.”
WBUR contacted the New Hampshire Libertarian Party to inquire why they felt death threats were justified, but the party responded by sending an image of the Declaration of Independence.
