Posted on 09/01/2006 7:01:29 PM PDT by Coleus
New Jersey's reputation as a tax hell just got worse.
The $1.9 billion worth of tax increases in the state's new budget represents a 5 percent increase over last year, far outpacing any other state, according to a study by the National Conference of State Legislators.
New Jersey now has the highest state sales tax, tied with three other states, at 7 percent. Its cigarette tax now leads in the nation. And, of course, this all comes on top of the nation's highest average property taxes.
It's no wonder people like Donley Kuendel are thinking of leaving. "The quality of life is going down about as fast as taxes are going up," said Kuendel, 50, of Atlantic Highlands. He and his wife are looking at houses in Delaware, where there is no sales tax, no income tax and property taxes are relatively low.
He's not much impressed by the Legislature's current efforts to come up with tax-cutting plans. The National Conference of State Legislatures report found the national trend is toward keeping state tax increases at a minimum, or even cutting them. South Carolina and Texas this year raised taxes a little more than 1 percentage point; five states (Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming) cut taxes by more than a penny on each dollar. The rest made only slight changes.
The bulk of New Jersey's tax increase came in the sales tax, which -- after a battle that temporarily shut down state government before lawmakers agreed on the $30.8 billion spending plan -- was raised from 6 percent to 7 percent. That puts New Jersey in a four-way tie with Mississippi, Rhode Island and Tennessee for the highest state sales tax rate. (California charges 7.25 percent, but 1 percent goes to municipalities.)
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
Too bad. The voters of New Jersey have made their bed. Now they can sleep in it. Maybe next time they will think twice before believing Corzine or any other Dem when they vow they won't raise taxes.
There are really two New Jerseys. The north, which is straight liberal Democratic and the south, which is more rural, more conservative and more mixed in their politics.
The north has the majority of the population and the corrupt political machine from Bergen and Newark "annoint" the Governor.
BTW: I left and have no intention of going back to live there.
What is it with people who vote for dimocrats? It's not as if they haven't been warned, or learned from experience, that the dims always raise taxes. What did they expect?
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