An in-law points out that the property tax in NJ is actually regressive, because it impoverishes the middle class to the benefit of the really wealthy, who could care less.
Our property taxes basically are a high overhead that childless people in particular are unlikely to bear; there is no reason for them to absorb such costs without using the school system. The taxes primarily benefit the government worker caste (our upper middle class), and much of it passes through them right into the Democratic Party’s coffers - who use it to hire MORE government workers. A vicious cycle...