‘If you tax them, they will leave’ (New Jersey, says Gov. Christie)

Weekly Standard ^ | April 26, 2010 | Fred Barnes

[reaganaut1]

Trenton

If the citizens of New Jersey like candor, Chris Christie is the governor they’ve been waiting for. Or I should say citizens of “the failed state” of New Jersey, as he tends to call it. It’s a “broken state” and a state that’s “broke.” New Jersey was in “a shambles,” he says, when he became governor in January. It’s “a fiscal basket case,” suffering from the “madness” of tax increases and excessive government spending, a “wonderful state” that’s been brought to “the edge of bankruptcy” and faces “the ruination” of its economy and “the quality of life that we want all of our citizens to have.” New Jersey has “deceitful politics,” and “the defenders of the status quo .  .  . yell and scream” and “demonize” those, like Christie, who seek change.

The state’s misery is quantifiable, and Christie routinely quantifies it in his speeches. His budget address in March to a joint session of the state legislature—controlled by Democrats—included this riff:

New Jersey residents are the most over-taxed in the country. We have one of the highest top marginal in-come tax rates, the second highest sales tax rate, the sixth highest corporate tax rate, and the highest property taxes in the nation. Add it all up, and the sad fact is that we are number one with more state and local taxes taken as a percentage of income than any other state in America. This is one distinction I am prepared to give up.

There’s more. “We are first in the number of college students who, once educated, leave our state,” Christie said. “We are near the top in debt, and number one in getting the least back from Washington for every dollar we pay in taxes.”

[BuffaloJack]

They’ll leave in NY, too.
New York State decided to increase the taxes on my boss, a prominent billionaire, rather than pay $38K per day, he moved to Florida and now New York State gets nothing.

[Joe Boucher]

Were they able to sell their homes for a reasonable amount I’m sure a whole lot more folks from New Jersey would flee.

[Pontiac]

The Democratic state senate president, Stephen Sweeney, has begun sounding like Christie. “The governor and I agree wholeheartedly, we have too much government, there’s too many layers, there’s too much of it and we need to shrink it and we need to cut it.”

Scared?

The Union bosses will be coming for you!

[Oldpuppymax]

“And to think it is all the school teachers fault. Who woulda thunk it?”

Actually it’s mainly the fault of leftist, vote buying, anti- American, tax and spend, political thugs. But as they tend to gravitate to unions and receive most of their campaign contribution from unions....

[Eagle of Liberty]

“TAX THE RICH!”

And now, every time I hear that saying, I ask, "And who are these 'rich'? You mean the Democrats that have milked the system in such a way to favor them in both the public and private sectors? The Democrats that stuff their stash away in Foundations? Those Rich?

It just amazes me to think how many people think that "THE RICH" is just a synonym for evil, dirty, racist Republicans.

[silverleaf]

did you watch that last video?
Those idiot college kids chanting “tax the rich”... when asked who was “rich”, were stopped in their tracks.

One of them said “$50,000”
Another one said “All white people are rich” (and he was white)

all obama voters, forever.

[BobL]

“Wouldn’t it be an amazing experiment if one governor could create a tax-free or minimal tax zone for “rich” people- and see what happened?”

We have it here in Texas, and other states without an income tax. We do have high property taxes, but that’s easy to avoid, just don’t buy a 4000 sq-ft house on Houston’s West Side.

[Hojczyk]

All the rich people are moving to Florida or Texas .... or other no income state tax..

[1010RD]

IL is essentially bankrupt unless they sell off state assets. We’ve been illegally borrowing for nearly a decade to cover general obligations.

How bad is Florida?