Posted on 07/04/2006 8:16:21 PM PDT by LdSentinal
Gov. Corzine to address full legislature Wednesday
Trenton -WABC, July 4, 2006) - Despite an all day effort by sequestered New Jersey lawmakers, there's still no budget agreement. Now, Governor Jon Corzine will address the Legislature on Wednesday morning.
New Jersey lawmakers opposed to Governor Jon Corzine's sales tax hike rejected a compromise sought by the governor on Tuesday. They are now working on their own plan that could increase income taxes. Even after an emergency closed door session, lawmakers failed to come up with a budget agreement. Talks will continue through the night.
And if a deal isn't met by Wednesday, Atlantic City casinos, state parks and beaches will close.
Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, a Democrat from Camden, said only 15 of 49 Assembly Democrats agreed with the compromise plan. This comes as Corzine ordered state lawmakers to work on the Fourth of July to pass a budget.
So far, the state lottery, road construction, motor vehicles and the courts have closed because of the government shutdown. In addition, more than half of the state's employees, some 45,000 people, were told to stay home.
Officials say lost lottery ticket sales are costing the state $2.2 millions dollars a day.
The dispute between Corzine and state Democrats is centered on a plan to increase the state sales tax from 6 to 7 percent. This, according to Corzine, would help the state overome a $4.5 billion dollar budget deficit for his $31 billion dollar spending plan.
Corzine has urged lawmakers to approve a compromise by Senate President Richard Codey. That plan would use half the $1.1 billion raised by his sales tax increase to ease the state's property taxes.
Corzine: "I'm willing to meet the Legislature half way."
Codey: "I don't see where either one is anyway going to change their position at this particular point in time."
Codey said he will stay in Trenton through the night to work with Corzine and the Assembly to hammer out a budget deal.
The following already have closed because of New Jersey's government shutdown:
Motor vehicle offices
Lottery ticket sales
Vehicle inspection centers
State courts, except for emergencies
Road construction
45,000 state workers forced to stay home
The following are to be closed by Wednesday morning:
Atlantic City casinos
State parks
State campgrounds
State historic sites
State beaches
Horse racing tracks
Government shutdown?...I haven't noticed
...a good indication that the state will be wasting most of the $31 billion of our money it plans on spending this year
Tax or close Democrats.
I want my refund!!
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
Why not a 10% across the board cut in spending?
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
You'd have thunk that the Garden Staters would have learned their lesson with Florio, but NOOOoooo...they HAD to elect this phony windbag.
Citizens OUGHT to ask why their tourist industry has to shut down in the middle of Summer because the worthless govt doesn't have its $$. It's more evidence that govt is choking the state.
He told the employees to stay home. Did he tell them they weren't going to be paid for these days or did he tell them they'll just be paid late for their paid vacations like Clinton did?
BTW in Corzine's last address to the legislature, he started to misspeak and say that goverment must "stop taking in more money..." Then he realized and said "must stop spending more money than it takes in..." Why then doesn't he cut spending???
This could well prove Jefferson's quote that, "...the government that governs best is that which governs least."
Whatever you do, don't cut spending. That would be disastrous
He was actually forced out by his partners for inability to deal with changed circumstances and untrustworthiness.
lol
NJ has a $ 4.5Billion budget gap. If they fired all the state employees they would make a small dent in the shortfall. What NJ needs to do is allow spending to increase no higher than inflation (about 3 percent) annually and take advantage of an expanding economy to generate tax revenues (4.5 percent increases per year from a booming economy) and hopefully the deficit will close over several years. The problem with NJ is not tax cuts nor tax increases, it is the tendency to spend at rates higher than the rate of revenues from taxes and closing the deficits by borrowing or one time sale of state assets.
Imagine how much the government shutdown is saving the taxpayers.
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