An editorial from the Courier Post yesterday said that the Governor is fixing a broken state. There really isn't much argument about whether we have problems, but the size, scope and solutions are open for discussion. They use the Governor's numbers for the size of the deficit and we get this:A governor coming into office this year could have:
A. Made up the deficit by getting $11 billion more in revenue -- i.e., increasing taxes -- or . . .
B. Cut spending dramatically to the tune of $11 billion.
Christie has chosen the latter. We suspect had Corzine been re-elected he would have done some major cutting but also leaned heavily on the first choice of tax increases. There are a few things wrong with this passage. First, the $11 billion number is overstated. The state almost never funds all of its obligations, but the Courier neglects to mention that fact. The number includes a $3 billion pension contribution and $1 billion toward property tax rebates, both of which are not funded in the Governor's proposal.
Then there is the amount that could be taken away from that with the extension of the tax on the super rich, which is currently being added to our deficit rather than helping solve the problem.
Finally, they once again let the Governor get away with saying he's not raising taxes. Taxes are being raised and the media is writing about it in their headlines daily as we have pointed out. The Governor just doesn't want to take responsibility and the media is doing their readership a disservice by not holding him accountable for what he's really doing.
I keep hoping they'll do their job and am disappointed every time I see the talking point go unquestioned and repeated. In fact, rather than call him out, they try to apologize for him by saying the Democrat would have been worse. |
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