Just as Tax Freedom Day arrives, Dems talk tax hikes

Tax Freedom Day arrived Wednesday for the weary New Jersey taxpayer who had to spend 127 long days – more than four months – working just to pay his or her total tax burden this year. That’s the second worst, or latest, in the entire nation.

But May 7th, the state’s Tax Freedom Day, was hardly cause for celebration in a state where taxpayers face additional tax increases, including a new water tax, increased state  highway tolls and a possible hike in the state’s gasoline tax – at a time when gas is selling for more than $3.50 a gallon and skyrocketing higher each day.

Assembly Republicans said the fact that only one state has a later tax freedom date than New Jersey indicates just how onerous our state’s tax burden has become for New Jersey families.

“It’s no wonder we are losing so many of our family members, friends, and neighbors to other states,” said Assemblyman Jay Webber, chairman of the Assembly Taxpayer Protection Caucus. “We want our state to be a place where people want to live, not a place they need to leave. Only with a true commitment to tax relief and reduced spending can we help New Jerseyans work less for Trenton, and more for their families.”

Tax Freedom Day is calculated by the Tax Foundation – a nonpartisan educational organization created to educate taxpayers about sound tax policy and the size of the tax burden borne by Americans at all levels of government.
It symbolizes the day of the year that residents of a state must work just to pay off their combined federal, state and local tax bills. The earliest Tax Freedom Day is March 29 in Alaska. New Jersey is next to last on May 7th and Connecticut is last on May 8th. The national average is April 23rd.

Webber vowed to stand together with the members of the Assembly and Senate Taxpayer Protection Caucuses to make New Jersey affordable again. The group is opposed to any tax increases on New Jersey’s already-overtaxed citizens. 

Webber note the irony of the Democrats’ announcement on Wednesday that the Senate Environment Committee will discuss creating a new $150 million tax on water. He said it’s unbelievable that New Jersey’s citizens are already drowning in taxes and now the Democrats want to tax their water.

“On the day that New Jerseyans finally have paid for their share of government and can start working for their families, it is sad irony that Democrats start pushing their new water tax on households,” he stated. “They already have made New Jersey unaffordable by taxing our homes, our work, our cars, our TVs, our phones, our cigarettes, our gas, our electricity, and our drinks, among other things.  Now they want to tax our water.  What will they tax next — our air?”

On Thursday the Senate Environment Committee debated a constitutional amendment that would dedicate $150 million annually to be raised through a tax on water to preserve open space and farmland. State Sen. Robert Smith, D-Middlesex and Somerset, the amendment sponsor, said the tax would cost households about $32 a year. A vote on the proposal was delayed for 10 days as legislators also consider using the new funds to pay for historic preservation projects.

According to an article in today’s Courier-Post, Governor Jon Corzine said he opposes new taxes in the upcoming budget which begins July 1, “but did not rule out the idea of a water tax down the road.”

 “Crushing taxes are forcing our families, friends, and neighbors to flee to other states — and the only thing the Democrats can think to do is to find new burdens to heap on us,” said an exasperated Webber.

Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce said the Garden State’s Tax Freedom Day puts in perspective, after six years of Democrat tax and spend policies, just how tough things are for the many New Jersey families who are struggling to make ends meet.

“New Jersey residents pay among the highest property taxes in the nation, and in recent years there have also been increases to our sales and income taxes,” he said. “Each day of work that goes to pay the government is less money families have to spend on household expenses, their child’s education, a family vacation, or even something as simple as a bat or glove for their child. When a New Jersey family must work until May 7th just to pay the tax man, something is terribly wrong with our state.”

As if a water tax isn’t enough of an additional burden to strap on the taxpayer’s back, The Star Ledger on Thursday reported that Corzine said he is considering both toll increases and a higher gas tax as a means to fund the state's transportation infrastructure needs.

That prompted Assemblyman Michael Doherty to note that perhaps the Democrats missed the taxpayers’ point regarding toll hike plans. He suggested that his Democrat colleagues in the Legislature refresh their memories as to how the public reacted to Governor Corzine’s toll hike plan in February.

“Just three months ago, New Jersey taxpayers reacted almost in unison in rising up and letting their voices be heard in staunch opposition to Governor Corzine’s toll hike plan,” said Doherty. “Perhaps memories of that opposition are starting to fade, but I would warn my Democrat colleagues that from the town meetings I have attended, the public is still very much opposed to paying higher tolls.”

Two Democrat lawmakers on Tuesday, Senator Raymond Lesniak and Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney, said the New Jersey Turnpike Authority should invoke its own power to increase tolls by as much as 45 percent to widen the toll roads and fix bridges. This toll hike would not require public approval.

Corzine had originally proposed borrowing up to $40 billion to pay off some state debt and fund transportation needs, and then paying off that debt with revenue from 800 percent toll increases to be spread over the next few decades. After public opposition to the plan emerged, Corzine backed off and is now proposing a scaled back toll-hike plan that he would like the Legislature to consider before July 1.

Doherty, who headed an Assembly Republican Task Force on Fiscal Responsibility that held several town meetings throughout the state to gather public input on the Corzine plan, noted that the overwhelming message he heard from taxpayers was that state government should cut spending – not increase tolls.

“In the past six years the state has increased spending by $11 billion and has hiked 101 taxes – a good bit of which was done by this governor,” Doherty said. “If Governor Corzine and the Democrats were really listening to the public, they would focus their attention on cutting state spending, instead of trying to determine what level of toll increase they might be able to force on the public.

As families labor to pay taxes, Abbott audits reveal waste

New Jersey taxpayers worked more than a quarter of this year for the government just to pay their annual total tax burden, only to learn earlier this week that Bridgeton school officials used some of that hard earned money to send students to a Double Dutch jump rope competition in South Carolina at a cost of $1,383.

In addition, Asbury Park officials shelled out $4,280 of taxpayer money to pay for golf shirts and jackets for athletic coaches while the Phillipsburg School District used $15,085 to buy banners for their 100th anniversary football game with rival Easton.

These are more examples of the findings of additional Abbott School spending audits conducted by KPMG LLP in New York that were reported in last Sunday's edition of the Gloucester County Times. The new findings were released just one month after an audit of the Union City school district uncovered egregious examples of waste and abuse of tax dollars in that district.

Assemblyman David Rible, who called the findings “shocking,” noted that New Jersey taxpayers send a disproportionate amount of their tax dollars into the 31 Abbott Districts in order to provide a thorough and efficient education for students in those districts.

“While it has never been demonstrated that the spending in these districts actually results in a better education for students, it has clearly been demonstrated that it results in poor spending decisions and rampant waste and abuse of tax dollars,” he said.

The audits also revealed that Bridgeton school officials spent more than $10,000 to send staff to conferences, including some in Atlanta, Ohio, Orlando and San Diego, while Gloucester City paid $6,116 for rain jackets for the football team.

Rible noted that in recent years 56 percent of state school aid has gone to the 31 Abbott school districts while the other 580 districts have had to share the remaining 44 percent of that aid.

“We should be doing everything we can to provide a quality education for children in every school district in this state,” Rible said. “But someone will need to explain why school kids in suburban and rural districts have been getting short-changed for the past six years while the Abbott districts can pay for fancy golf shirts and $15,000 football game banners. Something is clearly wrong here and it is time that the officials responsible for this spending be held accountable.”

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