NJ, like many other sales-tax states (which is most of them), makes NO DISTINCTION between tangible gooods, and intangibles like services, or goods bought out of state. If you live in NJ, you must pay tax even on things you buy out-of-state: they are covered by an equivalent "use tax."
The idea is, that if you live here, you are like livestock owned by the state, and should be milked by your owners at their discretion. For this they pretend to educate your kids, and pretend to protect you against criminals. They also promise eventually to repair the roads someday.
It seems surrealistic, but when I was growing up here, NJ has no state sales tax, and no state income tax -- and yet the schools were better then than they are now. I am not hallucinating: that is the way it was. It would be nice if the electorate had a memory for history, because history gives us so many good examples of other ways of getting along, which are reasonable alternatives to the present system.
"It seems surrealistic, but when I was growing up here, NJ has no state sales tax, and no state income tax -- and yet the schools were better then than they are now."
That is a completly accurate statement. As taxes and "fees" have gone up over the years the quality of life etc has gone down. Like others have posted I am down sizing and looking forward to my exit as well. After 3 property re-evaluations in 10 yrs I now won't even be able to pay my property taxes on my projected SS payments. Of course I could save money on food by competing with the deer for acorns and road side salad greens but I don't want to become road kill.
My friends are all educated people and yet they insist on always voting for the Dems no matter how blatantly obvious the corruption is. They always have some justification for re-electing the Dem crooks.I don't get it but I can't take it anymore. This tax thing is the last straw.