New Jersey's Flat Tax Debate (Lonegan for, Christie against)

Wall Street Journal ^ | May 26, 2009

[reaganaut1]

If ever a state were ripe for bold economic reform, it would be New Jersey, which is shedding jobs and is in perennial budget crisis despite one of the highest tax burdens in the land. So why is Chris Christie, the GOP front-runner in the state's 2009 gubernatorial race, taking cheap shots at the flat tax?

Mr. Christie is a former U.S. attorney who did yeoman work putting away the state's many political thieves. But he seems to be running scared in next month's Republican primary, when he faces former Mayor of Bogota Steve Lonegan, who is proposing to scrap Jersey's job-killing graduated income tax that has rates running from 1.4% to 8.97%. Mr. Lonegan wants to replace it with a 2.98% flat tax on the first dollar of income earned.

That's a good idea that would give the Garden State the lowest tax rate in the Northeast after New Hampshire. Mr. Lonegan says this will ensure that when New Jersey incomes "move-up," the residents "don't move out." Over the past decade, New Jersey has suffered the fourth highest rate of out-migration of all the states, with nearly half a million residents fleeing to the likes of Delaware, Florida and even New York.

Mr. Christie is assailing Mr. Lonegan's proposal on TV, radio and the Internet as a tax hike on the poor. His TV ad claims the flat tax isn't fair because it would raise taxes on "almost 70% of working families." That sounds like he's reading from President Obama's teleprompter. Mr. Lonegan counters that only 40% would pay more -- by an average of less than $300 for a family earning $20,000 -- and their tax liability would still be lower than in New York and Pennsylvania.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

LOL - We’re not talking about the federal government, we’re talking about New Jersey. And I support a flat-tax for now to get businesses and jobs back and then we can talk about killing it later.

[Man50D]

LOL - We’re not talking about the federal government, we’re talking about New Jersey.

You're not paying attention. The last sentence of my previous post deals directly with Fair Tax legislation. per my previous post:

Fair Tax movement on the state level has already started. The house chambers in Missouri and South Carolina have approved Fair Tax legislation. The laugh is on you.

And I support a flat-tax for now to get businesses and jobs back and then we can talk about killing it later.

The Fair Tax is a flat tax but on consumption instead of productivity. Endorsing any tax on income is supporting a tax system espoused by Marxists/Communists.