"That is a man who is obsessed with raising taxes. Taxes can't be high enough for Lou Greenwald." - Gov. Chris Christie
on Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald
That's not the way we're running this state. Not gonna happen on my watch. And I'm more than happy to have that debate and discussion with the Democrats - any time they want. - Christie - watch him say it
On Monday, Lou Greenwald had a letter delivered to the Governor, inviting him to have the kind of debate and discussion Christie said he was ever ready for, and suggesting a time, a place, and a venue: NJTV's "On the Record" program, with Michael Aron as moderator.
And now, Star-Ledger is calling on Christie to accept that challenge. After all, Christie said he was ready to debate. It's put up or shut up time. And so far, Christie, who usually likes to be the biggest blow of hot air in any confrontation, is uncharacteristically quiet. Greenwald:
"The governor himself said he was willing to debate this issue 'any time they want, but now he is hiding behind a spokesman. This is a simple question, Governor. It deserves a straight answer. Is it a yes or is it a no?"
"Greenwald's right that Christie's income tax plan helps the rich while doing little for New Jersey's biggest problem: property taxes. In fact, the governor has left the average family saddled with a much larger overall tax burden, thanks to his sharp cutbacks on rebate programs.
Christie opposes Greenwald's plan to provide property tax relief for the middle class because it's partially funded by a "millionaire's tax," which the governor has vetoed twice. But if he's going to stick with that approach, Christie shouldn't be afraid to publicly debate their competing tax plans.
The honorable thing would be to either back down and concede the argument, or accept the challenge. Which will it be, Governor?"
Christie has everything to lose if he has to stand behind his tax plan in a debate. He should do it, anyway. As he likes to remind us, he's the governor.
This is the Governor's own video (you paid for it) of his press conference 6 days ago. The meat of it starts at the 43-minute mark, with the actual challenge coming at 45:48:
I want to talk to you about a family I spoke with yesterday. What they said struck me, and I believe truly represents exactly who it is Assembly Democrats are fighting for in our campaign for 20% property tax relief.
The Castellanos, a middle-class family who live in Hamilton, were kind enough to invite me into their living room and talk to me about property taxes. Mr. Castellano, Domingo, is a union painter who works hard and plays by the rules. Together with his wife, Alicia, he raises two beautiful young daughters, ages 3 and 2, with another child on the way. Mr. Castellano told me that between groceries, baby formula, diapers and other expenses that add up quickly, they're struggling to make ends meet.
The context: defending Christie's decision to focus on the income tax cut instead of property tax issues. The claim: "the income tax matters for job creators."
Yep - give those millionaires more money, and they'll create jobs.
I don't need to say "we've heard this one before." I mean, this worked super well at the national level, right? The Bush tax cuts brought us all into a new era of job creation and prosperity that we're enjoying?
Let's change the subject to property taxes. They are too high, and our system of government is overly dependent on them.
And if we want to talk about jobs (where NJ is doing a lot worse than the nation as a whole in reducing unemployment so we should talk about that), let's talk about jobs - and not some specious claim, backed in Kean's article by anonymous quotes from supposed business owners, that we'll get there indirectly through cutting taxes on millionaires.
What's the modern governor to do? You're a star on the national media circuit, you're doing your best attack dog act for Mitt Romney, and you want to be the Republican nominee for President in 2016 (because deep down you know that Romney's a loser). You've outwitted those pesky Democrats, especially Steve Sweeney (as New Jersey's own Cliff Barnes) and you need some winning issues.
Eureka! Marriage equality, tax cuts, and the New Jersey Education Association.
In the middle of the marriage equality debate and the controversy over Christie's ill chosen words, it was easy to miss this: according to the Christie Administration, property taxes are up 20% since Chris Christie took office.
Why? Mainly this: prior to Christie taking office, the state's property tax credit program rebated the average New Jersey homeowner $1,000 a year off property taxes.
Now? The average homeowner gets only $480 a year in rebates instead.
This isn't that complicated - in fact, it's surprisingly simple given the two numbers are the same. Christie has a choice - between stopping the runaway increase in property taxes under his watch and cutting income taxes for millionaires. And he's choosing cutting income taxes for millionaires. Meanwhile, we all keep paying, and paying, and paying more property taxes.
It's rare in politics that choices are this clear. Let's hope that there's some serious focus on this as budget season begins.
To get an accurate picture of just how the governor's proposal would affect the average taxpayer and homeowner, let's take a look at both numbers, the income tax cut and the average increase in property taxes, and see what the real effect would be.
(Teacher/candidate Marie Corfield spells it all out: - promoted by Jersey Jazzman)
Before the end of the year Governor Christie wants the legislature to pass the remainder of his property tax ‘tool kit’ including his education ‘reform’ agenda. And the fate of one of the nation’s best public education systems and thousands of its students hang in the balance.
Out of over twenty four hundred schools in this state, about two hundred are not doing a good enough job educating their students. These schools are mostly in the former Abbott districts, some of the poorest cities in this country, where the Black unemployment rate is almost double the state average, and one in five children live in poverty.
The governor and Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf, along with their education advisors, Better Education for Kids (B4K) and Excellent Education for Everyone (E3), do not address this almost criminal disparity of wealth despite the fact that one of the DOE's earlier Abbott district reports cites poverty as a major roadblock to student achievement:
This is the second post in our new "jobs and taxes" series, investigating two issues of concern to pretty much everyone in New Jersey and how things have changed in the Christie Administration. The first one was on jobs. This one is on taxes.
For those of us who live in working-class and middle-class suburbs, why are our property taxes going up?
In addition to the "debate" on the federal level about the wealthiest Americans and corporations getting a free ride off We the People while just about everyone else is sacrificing what little they have left, there are three huge lies that seem to stick around way longer than they should about Americans and taxes. I'll put all three to bed right now with three simple facts:
The rich pay a lower percentage of their income in state taxes (at least here in NJ but also in many states) than everyone else.
It is these last two items that have really been in the forefront lately and a lot is based on the completely farcical selective focus on personal income tax. The excuses and "proof" is laughable - that more money is paid by the top 5% (duh, they have 90% of the total income and wealth), that lower income Americans don't pay federal or state income tax or whatever else. But of course, that doesn't take into account the following:
Property tax
Social Security tax
Medicare tax
Sales tax
Cigarette tax
Hotel tax
Non "tax" taxes such as tolls, ATM fees, parking or meter fees, etc.
Even taking the last few out of the mix, a recent 50 state study showed that in almost all states, the top 1% and 5% pay a lower share of their income in taxes, and the lowest 20% paid a substantially higher percentage of income in overall taxes - even when the income taxes are taken out of the equation.
Here in NJ, just taking sales, property and income taxes, the lowest 20% pay almost 11% of their income in state tax, while the top 1% (with an average 2007 income in excess of $2,250,000) paid under 7.5% of their income in state taxes. This is the lowest of any bracket (lowest 20%, next 20%, next 20%, next 20%, next 15%, next 4%, top 1%) and substantially lower than nearly all of the other brackets.
Couple this with the debunked lie that Governor Christie and his right wing ilk like to repeat about taxes and the little to no impact they have on people leaving a state, and you have those poor mistreated, misunderstood and unfairly picked on super rich crying about stuff that is a steaming pile of thousand dollar bills lining their pockets at the rest of our expense.
As he suggests, it may start with after-school activities but the logic leads to fees for advanced classes and a class system even within a single public school. I think it's a major problem and I am glad my Assemblyman is talking about it.
Nothing like a dose of the truth to shine the light on the fact that the Emperor really wears no clothes.
1. New Jersey Loses Jobs: 13,000 of them according to the state DOL. So much for all those tax cuts to make NJ welcoming to business. So much for the Governor's veto of the Legislature's job creation bills.
2. Property Taxes Increase: A 2010 increase averaging about 4.1% vs. an average increase of about 3.5% in the years 2007 thru 2009. So let's see - the "tough budget" Governor Christie has increased property taxes more than that "wimpy budget" Governor Corzine. mmmmm?
3. The Straight Talking Governor: apparently doesn't always talk so "straight and honest" - read the New York Times article unmasking Governor Blunt Speaking who seems to embellish the truth just a little.
The average New Jersey taxpayer shelled out $7,576 in property taxes in 2010, a 4.1 percent jump over 2009 and the largest year-over-year increase since 2007
Rather bizarrely Christie Administration officials pointed to lower overall spending by local governments and school districts. It seems to me that just shows the property taxes increases were due to Christie's state aid cuts. Of course, the same cuts also gave New Jersey the worst job losses in the nation.
(Sadly we must acknowledge property tax increases under the Democrats were also large.)
For Chris Christie's political opponents, there are few bigger frustrations than the degree to which blatant lies have served as the engine of his agenda. Of course in our modern political climate, it almost sounds silly and hyperbolic to go after someone because they lie - politicians and partisans call one other liars all the time. But it's exactly this ingraining of the "liar" meme into the public consciousness on which Christie relies. He knows that if the crowd enjoys the show, they'll tune out the details.
But facts are facts, and it would be cool if people cared about them more. So here is a quick primer on just a few of Governor Christie's more breathtaking lies - a short and incomplete list that begs the question: Why there hasn't the mainstream media called Christie to task for the laundry list of serious questions surrounding his trustworthiness - especially since one of his big sticking points is that he is such a truth-teller?
Truth: Christie was a registered Statehouse lobbyist who advocated on legislation relation to health care, public utilities, banking, and - of course - education.
Why lie?: To look like an outsider. A maverick. A guy who has nothing to do with New Jersey machine politics. Which, of course, he does. Big time.
From our friend, cartoonist Rob Tornoe at Punchline. Now you can make your very own Chris Christie back-patter! Now, Christie's behavior at his bizarre, post-blizzard, post-Disney press conference in Monmouth makes sense. He had his back-patter! Whoa, I get all of 2010 now! Not sold in any stores.
There is an old adage in legal circles that "If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table." This Governor has done an awful lot of table thumping this past year. As we head to the end of Christie's first year leading the state, we now have a much larger sample by which to judge his work. While many here at Blue Jersey were among the first to be critical of the Governor, polls show that the more people who didn't have an opinion of his style and policies see, the less they like. Not only has Christie's approval dropped over the year, but his disapproval has risen by 18 points as people learn more about him.
The Governor would tell you that he has been successful regardless of the results because the debate has changed. He has laid out his case just like a prosecutor, giving only the facts that make his point and omitting or attacking anything that undermines his claims. While the debate may have changed, the solutions of this Governor have only further placed the burden on struggling middle class families and seniors at the expense of giving away more money to millionaires. And the style with which he goes about developing those solutions serves to distract from the true impact they will have.
The Legislature on Wednesday introduced its "BACK TO WORK NJ" bill package to boost the economy and create jobs. This action followed Tuesday's legislative offer to the Governor of a "Tool Kit" compromise on arbitration reform which the governor rejected as "watered down." Christie may yet change his stance on the compromise offer, and the legislature may introduce other "tool Kit" bills, particularly civil service reform. Senate and Assembly Democratic leaders, however, made clear that their focus into early January will be on "BACK TO WORK NJ." Bob Ingle pointed out in a column "When you go to the governor's page for his fall reforms under economic development you get the equivalent of under construction." Christie's plans are vague. The legislature, in contrast, has real plans and has taken ownership of the issue which most concerns New Jerseyans.
As usual Governor Christie oversimplifies and then ends his statement with his supposedly conclusive, seal-the-deal "That's it." Public sector salaries are indeed key. However, an example of another way to lessen their impact is through sharing services which reduces duplicative salaries, as well as costs for equipment, space, and indirect expenses. The legislature must do more to facilitate this process.
Imposing a fixed, mandatory cap on salary increases of public sector employees makes the task simpler for mayors and county executives. However, it ends the important collective bargaining process which has brought an improved standard of living for so many. A mandated cap which ignores costs of living increases, competitive salary rates in the free market, productivity gains, and the relative value of different job categories leads to a dysfunctional, disintegrating system.
Although the issues regarding property tax will require ongoing review and further action, we are currently in a race against time. With an existing mandatory cap on property tax increases starting in January, time is running out for the hesitant legislature and the pushy governor. No resolution would leave local governments in chaos and harm the governor and the legislature in the minds of the public. A compromise between the two would provide a level of stability and allow each to claim some credit. With a bullying, overconfident governor in the foreground, only strong and determined leadership from the Senate and Assembly can assure us successfully crossing the finish line.
This is an open thread ... What specific positions should the legislature adhere to?
Scott: "So you're convinced that we are going to see in this next budget cycle property taxes generally not increase more than 2 percent."
Christie: "Yeah, not the property tax bills you are about to get this August."
Scott: "Right, but next Year."
Christie: "But next year, yes."
Scott: "There's a lot of people out there governor that hope you are right."
Christie: "Listen, I know I'm going to be right."
Christie went on to explain that municipalities will be forced to cut services when costs of contracts rise above the 2 percent cap.
As if cost of contracts is the only problem that there is. That sounds like a promise to me in Christie speak. Remember that, he know's he's going to be right. Even with all of the exemptions in the cap, we're going to see headlines that fly in the face of what the Governor says. We've already seen talk of it just the other day when news came out that healthcare costs were going up 12%:
"They (taxes) have to go up," said Frank Bradley, administrator for Union Township. "[Just] because it's outside the cap, don't be misled by that. It's still an additional amount of money that has to be generated through a tax increase."
Even if the Governor exempts it from his calculations, the towns and the taxpayers still are stuck doing the real math.
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