Posted on 07/05/2010 3:39:26 PM PDT by rhema
New Jersey is ground zero in the national fight between taxpayers and government unions, with new Republican Governor Chris Christie trying to pull the state from the brink of tax-and-spend bankruptcy. This week he struck a budget deal with Democrats that makes modest progress, but the real game is now afoot over his proposal to impose a cap on property taxes.
The budget deal for fiscal 2011 closes a $10.7 billion gap, and the overall spending level of $29.4 billion is the lowest in five years. Democrats had said Mr. Christie's budget was dead on arrival in March, but in the end they agreed to most of his spending cuts. The Governor also vetoed a "millionaire's tax" that would have raised the top marginal income tax rate to 10.75% from just under 9%, though he did accept some new fees on insurance and hospital beds.
The budget's biggest weakness is its lack of long-term structural reform, as the state's labor agreements are left untouched. It also kicks to future years a $3 billion payment to a state pension fund that is underfunded to the tune of $46 billion. Mr. Christie says he won't put more money into pensions without reforms in overgenerous benefits, but sooner or later the state will have to come up with more pension money.
All of which makes the showdown over property taxes especially important for reform prospects and Mr. Christie's political future. The Governor wants to cap annual property tax increases at 2.5%, on the model of the successful cap that Massachusetts imposed in 1980. Over the next 27 years, property taxes in the Bay State rose 22% compared to 68% nationwide and 102% in New Jersey.
The cap is crucial to preventing local Garden State school districts, which are dominated by teachers unions, from
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
This guy reminds me of the REAL Jackie Gleason...the way he portrayed Fats in The Hustler was said to be the real deal, straight talking and no nonsense...I like this guy.
Fiscal conservatism in action.
Learn it, live it, love it
Alas, they really aren't. States don't go bankrupt ~ they just run out of money and quit paying their bills. Even their debts have no asset resources behind them. Investors can and will be burned.
A piece of history is instructive. As you drive through the Midwest on your way to the mountains, or the West, notice the very nice old county courthouses that were built in the 1800s. Some of them are incredibly like French chateaux.
Smart guys would print up bonds and sell them in Europe for the purpose of financing a fine court house in some county in the middle of the continent ~ where there were maybe a hundred farmers!
Europeans thinking they were buying into the future of America invested in these bonds.
True enough most of the courthouses were built, but the bonds were never redeemed.
You can still rent a chunk of property-tax free land on a canal company route ~ in Indiana! State went through two technical bankruptcies but the canal company outlived everything. They built lousy canals but kept heafty cash reserves. They're still in business!
In the nearterm future you will know who the state government retirees are ~ they'll be working as greeters at Wal-Mart!
He has a future.
It is critical that he win this battle. If he does, I think he is an immediate presidential candidate.
It is critical that he win this battle. If he does, I think he is an immediate presidential candidate.
My sister owns 1/4 of an acre in Branchville, NJ and pays $11,000 in property taxes. TRUTH
There is a house on the 1/4 acres. Don’t leave much lawn.
Corzine froze the contracts of the state labor unions so Christie couldn’t legally do anything about their contracts this year.
Jaw-dropping! Friends of mine just got their tax bill, three times more than what they expected. They are struggling as it is.
Ah rural NJ, very high taxes...many years ago I tried to escape the congested areas, buy a few acres and build...found out that I could buy and build but could not afford the additional burden of the taxes to live there.
I hope his security detail is on top of things.
Yup. Learning that lesson the hard way right now.
Union City- whats a lawn?
I get tired of these posts.
# 1 - Christie has ONLY been in office a few months.
# 2 - He supports Illegal aliens and opposes the Arizona Law on illegals.
# 3 He DOESN’T support the Second Amendment.
Christie has to re-evaluate his position in illegal invaders and the Second Amendment if he is serious about running for office anywhere but in New Jersey.
Chris is fantastic... he gets quite a bit of coverage on Fox News. During the election, when his opponent made low-down cracks about his weight (”Chris throws his weight around”) it offended so many people that he won the election!
Either 84 or 88.
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