Posted on 01/21/2007 12:58:38 PM PST by Rumplemeyer
The Star-Ledger carried an article last week headlined "Hudson legislators block tax reform." The article, by reporter Deborah Howlett, told of how the nine Democrats who represent Hudson County are dismantling Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed reform of property taxes.
"We have a very astute delegation," said state Senate Majority leader Bernie Kenny.
You can say that again. Thanks to the skills of astute pols like Kenny, taxpayers in Hudson County don't need property-tax reform. They already have it.
Homeowners in his hometown of Jersey City pay a mere 10 percent of the cost of government there. Compare this to Morris County. Taxpayers in Morris Township pay 59 percent of the cost of government through their property taxes. Taxpayers in Mendham Township pay 69 percent. If these people got the level of state aid that Jersey City gets, their tax bills would dwindle to the size of their cable TV bills. Instead, their in come-tax money goes to Hudson County while their property-tax bills continue to rise.
Very astute.
Even more astute is the manner in which the Hudson pols have set up the school-funding formula. State figures show that Hudson schools get $792 million a year in state aid. That is equal to the state aid figures for Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, Sussex, Warren and Ocean counties combined.
Extremely astute.
It's easy to see why the Hudson boys are blocking property-tax reform. With the level of tax dollars flowing in from the suburbs via the income tax, they don't need to cut costs. Why would Jersey City want Corzine's proposed 4 percent cap on spending? They're rolling in dough. Why would Hudson County want a ban on dual office-holding when state Sen. Joe Doria and Assemblyman Brian Stack also get paid to be mayors? Why would a guy like state Sen. Nick Sacco or Assemblyman Charles Epps want to cut school administration costs when both have high-paying jobs superintending schools?
The original theory behind the state income tax when it was introduced 30 years ago was that we'd all share in the largesse. But over the years the Hudson pols -- along with their equally sharp fellow Dems in Union and Essex -- have managed to hog the tax relief while periodically increasing income-tax rates.
Don't worry. Lou Manzo has a plan. Manzo, as assemblyman from Hudson, has a proposal for an in come-tax hike that would finally get some relief to the suburbs. Manzo's bill would put a surcharge on income taxes to fund property- tax relief. The theory is that with a small increase in the income tax we could set up a program under which every resident of New Jersey would have half his school taxes paid by the state.
The suburbs would make out under my bill," Manzo told me. "Since the school bill in Jersey City isn't as high, it wouldn't be cut as much."
So we'd finally see the tax cuts for the middle class that were promised when the income tax was instituted 30 years ago. Or would we?
Not if the courts have anything to say about it. When the state gets more revenue, the Supreme Court has historically ordered that it be handed over to the so-called "Ab bott" school districts. These districts are, coincidentally enough, lo cated disproportionately in Hud son and other counties run by Democratic machines.
Manzo assures me that this time it would be different. I doubt it. The suburbs have a problem: They aren't represented by Hudson County politicians. The Hudson guys are so much sharper that the Republican rubes simply don't have a chance against them. Think of country girl Christie Whitman packing the Supreme Court with liberals who ordered free preschools for the Wall Street moms of Hoboken. Think of Tom Kean handing the keys to the cash register to the teachers unions. The Democrats are playing chess, and the Republicans are playing Chutes and Ladders.
There's one bright spot in the current debacle: Property taxes may not be going down, but in come taxes probably won't be going up. The Democrats have so thoroughly gutted any plans for cost reductions that even they would be embarrassed to ask for another hike in the income tax. Having raised the sales tax last year, Jon Corzine is in no position to be asking for an income-tax hike any time soon.
In other words, there is an ex cellent chance that Corzine will end up doing nothing on property taxes. In a state controlled by the Hudson boys, that's progress.
Paul Mulshine is a columnist for The Star-Ledger. He may be reached a pmulshine@starledger.com
>>>>Property taxes may not be going down, but in come taxes probably won't be going up. The Democrats have so thoroughly gutted any plans for cost reductions that even they would be embarrassed to ask for another hike in the income tax. Having raised the sales tax last year, Jon Corzine is in no position to be asking for an income-tax hike any time soon.
Paul Mulshine obviously missed the article in the Ledger yesterday about NJ Revenues being down.
bump
Any New Jersey voter outside Husdon, Camden or Essex County who votes Democrat should have his head examined. The tail is wagging the dog in this state, and it is the suburban Democrat voter that makes it happen.
There should be a two-tier tax system. If you want to vote Democrat, you have to pay all the Democrat taxes. But if you vote Republican, you can pay lower Republican taxes. How's that for an idea?
Paul Mulshine obviously does not understand that the Democrats are beyond embarrassment. They increased taxes last year in the highest taxed, richest state in the nation, and still don't have enough money.
There is no such thing as enough money.
Where does all our money go? Obviously we know of some of it, double and triple pensions, gourmet catering, get out of traffic ticket pins....but it is almost like some invisible overseers get payments or something.
Featherbedding, mostly...
As a former resident of Bayonne, I would like to know where the money is going as well and how come Joe Doria never gave me any.
::gets in line and puts hand out::
A shame that Doria's opposition in the run-off was a mental midget from Spring Lake (Pat Conaghan), who actually believed that someone would build factories on the old BNS.
Unfortunatly, Middlesex, Burlington, and Gloucester counties are filled with braindead union members. Don't get me started on how inept the state GOP has been in courting ethnic voters (East Indians, Koreans, Russians, etc.).
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