The High Cost of High Taxes In New Jersey
The Political Dogs - Leaving The Welfare State:
If you want to know what the liberals are thinking these days, look no further than New Jersey.
New Jersey, despite years of a tremendously good economy, is in fiscal crisis. State government is running a huge deficit. Residents pay the highest property taxes in the country to support schools which … do not reflect the huge amount of money which is poured into them. Heavily traveled roads in this, the most densely populated state in the union are beginning to deteriorate. Businesses are starting to move out due to high levels of taxation and the crumbling infrastructure. The inner cities are rat holes of crime, drug abuse, etc.
There are wealthy people in the state of New Jersey to be sure but collectively they don't have enough wealth, let alone income flow, to pay taxes sufficient to raise everyone up to the liberal standard of living.
Most of the money will be taken from the hides of middle class people - people who are educated by some of the best institutions in this country because their parents bit the bullet or because they piled on debt; people who work 60 hours a week excluding their 1 - 2 hour commutes each way; people who have things and live pretty well because they sacrificed.
My efforts have provided a decent home for my family but we're certainly not rich. Our income pays the mortgage, buys food and a little - not enough - is left over to put away for the kid's college or for our retirement. But we don't take vacations or buy expensive cars or have a lot of other "luxuries." We pay our own health insurance - a little less than 10% of our monthly earnings. I've had enough. So I'm movin' out.
I'm movin' to a place where the identical house costs less than half, where the taxes are less than one fifth, where the schools and the quality of life are better, where there is a conservative (yes Republican but not just Republican) government which actually holds down costs.
New Jersey Taxes
If you want to know what the liberals are thinking these days, look no further than New Jersey.
New Jersey, despite years of a tremendously good economy, is in fiscal crisis. State government is running a huge deficit. Residents pay the highest property taxes in the country to support schools which … do not reflect the huge amount of money which is poured into them. Heavily traveled roads in this, the most densely populated state in the union are beginning to deteriorate. Businesses are starting to move out due to high levels of taxation and the crumbling infrastructure. The inner cities are rat holes of crime, drug abuse, etc.
There are wealthy people in the state of New Jersey to be sure but collectively they don't have enough wealth, let alone income flow, to pay taxes sufficient to raise everyone up to the liberal standard of living.
Most of the money will be taken from the hides of middle class people - people who are educated by some of the best institutions in this country because their parents bit the bullet or because they piled on debt; people who work 60 hours a week excluding their 1 - 2 hour commutes each way; people who have things and live pretty well because they sacrificed.
My efforts have provided a decent home for my family but we're certainly not rich. Our income pays the mortgage, buys food and a little - not enough - is left over to put away for the kid's college or for our retirement. But we don't take vacations or buy expensive cars or have a lot of other "luxuries." We pay our own health insurance - a little less than 10% of our monthly earnings. I've had enough. So I'm movin' out.
I'm movin' to a place where the identical house costs less than half, where the taxes are less than one fifth, where the schools and the quality of life are better, where there is a conservative (yes Republican but not just Republican) government which actually holds down costs.
New Jersey Taxes
Great blog here, best of luck with it. Another way of measuring the extent of the problem is to look across the river at New York. Both the State and New York Ciy are running major surpluses, despite the fact that their geographic and demographic situation is roughly equivalent to New Jersey's (more so than any other state). Yet while both the state and city are seeing rebates (while Bloomberg demands MORE cuts and ideas for productivity gains from various agencies), NJ's cities (thinking Hoboken and Jersey City here) are running deeply in debt, as is the state. Taxes here are rising.
One reason for this is that NY (state and city) hit bottom during the 70's, finally breaking the back of the Democratic patronage machine. This led to a series of managers (mostly talking NYC here) who did not depend on such patronage. This allowed them (Guiliani and Bloomberg) to run the city with an eye toward efficiency rather than votes.
There's much noise made as to the "moral superiority" of one party or another. Putting such superficial (and usually misguided) thinking aside, what one sees is that Democrats thrive mainly in urban areas where patronage machines keep them afloat. For them, bloated government works better, since it means more workers beholden to the party. Republicans genrally get their money from wealthy backers, who generally want to cut government.
There are exceptions, such as the Long Island situation, where the entrenched Republicans run a patronage system that would be the envy of any Democrat. As a rule of thumb, though, when one sees a political party extolling the homespun virtues of bigger government, I'd simply advise voters to run (not walk) the other way.
Posted by
Jeff Faria |
8:20 PM