Corzine: Property Tax Decrease not Feasible

[Untamed]

Governor seeks lesser property tax increases, local taxes

10/16/2006, 1:00 p.m. ET By TOM HESTER Jr.
The Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Monday said he hopes to hold property tax increases to no more than 3 percent annually and give local governments authority to implement their own taxes.
Speaking on New Jersey 101.5 FM, Corzine said he would like cut the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes as part of an ongoing tax reform effort, but said keeping annual hikes in check seems more realistic.
Property taxes have increased about 7 percent annually in recent years, helping boost average property taxes to $6,000, twice the national average.

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"Hopefully we'll get it down to 3 percent or less," Corzine said.
New Jersey relies on property taxes to pay for most county, municipal and school operations. Those local governments raise money only through property taxes.

But the governor said he supports giving local governments the authority to implement their own sales taxes, an idea recently discussed by lawmakers who have until Nov. 15 to devise tax reform recommendations as part of a plan to change the state's tax system by year's end.
"I think we ought to give other means of raising revenue on a limited basis," Corzine said.

New Jersey state government imposes a 7 percent sales tax and the governor said he would support giving local governments authority to impose a 1 percent sales tax.

"I don't think we would do income taxes," Corzine said.
The League of Municipalities, which represents municipal governments, has supported communities getting the authority to impose additional taxes.
Minority Republicans blasted the idea. Sen. Robert Littell said residents are expecting property tax cuts.

"Now we see that all along the Democrats in charge of government were just planning on raising new taxes under the pretext of a reform effort," said Littell, R-Sussex. "A tax shift is absolutely the wrong approach in an effort to lower property taxes in this state."
Some legislators have been promoting ideas such as restricting property taxes to a percentage of income or restricting how much property value is taxed as ways to give taxpayers a quick, dramatic tax cut. Corzine didn't mention such proposals.

He said he sees immediate property tax relief coming through ideas he introduced in July: changing the state's school funding formula to give more money to suburban schools and turning the property tax rebate checks mailed annually to residents into direct tax payments from the state to municipalities, which would be boosted by using $350 million from the sales tax increase approved this year.
Corzine said he would also demand changes to bar newly elected officials, political appointees and contracted workers such as attorneys and tax assessors from receiving taxpayer-funded pensions.
"We're going to get it in this or I'm not signing any bills on anything," Corzine said.

[JL8Jeff]

It figures! He was wrong about the sales tax increase to 7% which did nothing to balance the budget and now there will be no chance of reduced property taxes. I was watching Comcast Newsmakers yersterday and they had the idiot mayor of Ewing on and he was saying the same thing, "we can't reduce property taxes but we think we can minimize the increases"! WTF! What about no increases before you attampt to reduce the taxes? How can this state be so F'd up that we are gauranteed prop tax and sales tax increases with no sign of help? Can't we just declare NJ a state of national disaster and receive funding?

[NJSPEEDER]

funny, now he threatens to not sign any bills if the ways taxes are used isn't reformed, before he refused to sign anything if he didn't get to impose his taxes. which way does this clown want it?
by the way, the increased funding from the sales tax increase didn't even cover all the political "pork barrell" expenses that it took to get the bill signed. lol
the dumbocrats really have found their niche in life, making new jersey worse one "budget reform" at a time.

[BonzoHansen]

It is all ********. I am totally tired of politicians at all levels in this state. Local towns all cry that have to chase 'ratables' (a euphamism for over development) because of costs. But they never say boo about why they have to chase ratables - too much government, greed & corruption, at all levels, ugh. Not one politician has balls in this state.

Then there are the hypocrites who want to ban transfats and other goofy laws on restaurants, but they just added gym memberships to the sales tax, and voted to allow smoking in casinos. They are all dirty.

[WayFast84]

I see no hope for future generations! We where talking about this in law class today! Pretty ******, I guess edisonites shoulda voted for my dad back in the 80's for mayer..wait good thing they didnt!

[Fast92RS]

Its all NJ. The city I work for it rasing property taxes and laying off police and fire. Go figure.

[NJSPEEDER]

i wish i coudl say it was jsut new jersey, but i have family in NC, MO, and upstate NY. they are all getting ****ed over by their elected officials too.
wayfast, good drama queen statement. there is hope, because there are elections. teh tough part is finding someone who has the balls to follow through on whatever they promise during the campaign.

[V]

when i was talking to the guys at a chevy dealership in OBX, i made the comment "its cheaper here in NC" and they said, well not really, i then asked about property tax on say a 3bedroom house on 1/2 acre... they said like 2k maybe 2.5k... i laughed, here in my town its like 10k+. They then agreed with me, lol. Hence why next winter i'm moving to NC.

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by NJSPEEDER

i wish i coudl say it was jsut new jersey, but i have family in NC, MO, and upstate NY. they are all getting ****ed over by their elected officials too.
wayfast, good drama queen statement. there is hope, because there are elections. teh tough part is finding someone who has the balls to follow through on whatever they promise during the campaign.

None of them have balls. Never will. Even if they do when they 1st get elected, they quickly get neutered by 'the system'. You would need to elect a whole bunch of politicians with balls all at once so they could actually take action. But that won’t happen.

Too many people are like ground hogs; they vote based on if they see their shadow or something. They latch onto one issue, say abortion, and complete ignore all other traits of all the candidates, including the one they vote for. I’m not picking on right to life/right to choose people; they just make an easy example. What is even dumber is when fringe issues like that impact elections that have nothing to do with it; like voting for a mayoral candidate because of his stance on abortion. They have no power over it!

Politicians are smart, they find what amounts to fringe issues that gain publicity but mean very little in the big picture. Notice how the ‘estate tax’ is now the ‘death tax’? It impacts like 1% of the population (people with sizable estates – I forget the actual figure), but you see it in ads. People hear ‘death tax’ and they jump – even if they are broke.

They all suck.

Look at my town, Hamilton. Mayor Happy Gilmore is busy trying to push redevelopment down the throats of the ‘poorer’ sections of town in the name of ratables (while ignoring traffic woes, impact on schools, etc.). Meanwhile, the republicans in town are busy fighting it – the same group that got run out of town a few years ago largely due to corruption, according to people I have spoken to (I’m only here 6 years). But none of them even speak of the true root problem – the entire way we generate revenue & spend money in this state. This town is one of the biggest jurisdictions in the state, so we should have some push at a state level. I know GG won’t push, because he is in bed with county & state dems – he is their boy, like when he fired Benecard from the town during the last Senate election – you know, the company owned by the Republican challenger Doug Forrester. But what did Hamilton get for shilling for the dems? A denial for additional state funds. Great. But I do not hear anything for the republicans running on the bigger picture. To be honest, I don’t trust them either. They all suck.

And don’t even get me going on the sink hole that is education and education funding.

[Untamed]

Originally Posted by SmokingSS

when i was talking to the guys at a chevy dealership in OBX, i made the comment "its cheaper here in NC" and they said, well not really, i then asked about property tax on say a 3bedroom house on 1/2 acre... they said like 2k maybe 2.5k... i laughed, here in my town its like 10k+. They then agreed with me, lol. Hence why next winter i'm moving to NC.

I just sent out my resume to a dozen companies near the Charlotte, NC area.

I'm not kidding.

[Oddball]

If you want to do something about property taxes or just want to keep on top of the issues, send me an email sjcptr@comcast.net.

[WayFast84]

I have a question,

What kind of politician can lower taxes? what school would I go to to become that politician? Id love to either **** people over or fix some of this ****!!

[NJSPEEDER]

i don't think you have to go to school to become a politician. you already change your mind regularly, now you just need to mix in a few lies and deny a very public affair and you will be ready for election day.

lol

[WayFast84]

fuggin a

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by WayFast84

I see no hope for future generations! We where talking about this in law class today! Pretty ******, I guess edisonites shoulda voted for my dad back in the 80's for mayer..wait good thing they didnt!

There's no hope for the future when people can't spell mayor correctly.

[NJSPEEDER]

if it was all about saving money, i coudl see moving south. but i am not really about money, so i couldn't go.
i ahve traveled all over teh place and have only come up with two places i could ever live, jersey or vegas. because those are the only two places i have ever been that have or are close enough to enough entertainment/racing/cool people to keep me amused for more than a few days at a time.
moving someplace more country is defiunately out. i cna stay with my family in upstate, ny for a few days. then i realize things like the closest drag strip is 3 or more hours away, the convenience store closes at 10, the bars all suck, they have no lagers, they don't know what a cheese steak is, and the list goes on and on.

[BonzoHansen]

I hear you on location. I like hitting concerts up. In just the past few months, I went to AC to see Jeff Beck, Philly/Camden to see Iron Maiden, I have Black Crowes tix in Sayerville next month, and NYC happens a lot.

But that conveinence is costing me.