The Greatest Lie in New Jersey

by: Jersey Jazzman

Wed Nov 16, 2011 at 11:00:00 AM EST

New Jersey does not have a tax problem. That we don't have enough tax revenue. We have a spending and size of government problem and we need to start saying "no." And, today is another one of those examples of saying "no."

Well, if square-shootin', straight-talkin', plain-spoken man-of-the-people Chris Christie says so, it must be true, right?

Wrong:

Spending burden is total state and local government spending as a share of total state personal income.
NJ Rank: 40

Sorry, folks - looks like we let some facts intrude on a nice bit of demagoguery. Let's try that again:

Local government revenue tells only part of the story. If one looks at total state and local revenue from their own sources as a percent of residents' personal income, New Jersey ranks 31st in the country - i.e., in the lower half of states.

New Jersey's income tax revenue ranks 20th in the country as a share of residents' personal income, while its sales tax revenue ranks 38th and its excise taxes rank 45th. In addition, New Jersey and its localities impose few fees or charges for services, ranking 48th in the country.

When you're a high-income state, you pay more in taxes per capita; but that doesn't make you a high-tax state or a high-spending state relative to income.

And since we're a bedroom community, our residents pay a lot of taxes to New York or Pennsylvania. Can't exactly blame New Jersey policies for those.

Of course, the entire premise of Christie's argument against the millionaire's tax is that the wealthy will flee if we raise taxes on them. Too bad that just isn't true. Of course, in New Jersey, if you don't like the facts as the are, you can simply make up your own - if you are the governor.