Thoughts on Christie's income tax cut proposal from NJPP research director Mary Forsberg:
The cornerstone policy proposal of Gov. Christie's State of the State speech Tuesday was a 10 percent across-the-board reduction in income tax rates. But "fixing" the only tax in New Jersey that isn't broken would be a bad idea, resulting in less money for schools and local government services and likely forcing many New Jerseyans to pay more in property taxes.
So it seems as though Chris Christie is channeling his inner Christie Whitman with his proposal to cut New Jersey income taxes by 10% across the board. We know how well Whitman's 30% tax cut worked out. New Jersey borrowed massive amounts of money to pay for pensions and government projects, which led even lesser governors to stop paying into the public employee's pension system, which resulted in the underfunded system becoming the state's unofficial bird, the Albatross, when the economy bottomed out in 2009. I wish the rest was history, but unfortunately it's become the present and future for hard-working middle class public employees across the state.
"As Senator McConnell's statement today makes clear, the only thing standing between 160 million Americans and a tax increase is House Republicans' refusal to act." – Nancy Pelosi
Well, if you want to ask our “moderate” GOP delegation to the United States Congress why they are standing in the way of bipartisan agreements on taxes, unemployment and energy exploration legislation passed with 90 percent support in the Senate, here’s their addresses and phone numbers.
Frank Lobiondo (R-2) 5914 Main Street Mays Landing, New Jersey Phone: (609) 625-5008
Jon Runyan (R-3) 4167 Church Road Mount Laurel, New Jersey 08054 Phone: (856) 780-6436
Scott Garrett (R-5) 266 Harristown Rd, Suite 104 Glen Rock, New Jersey 07452 Phone: (201) 444-5454
Leonard Lance (R-7) 425 North Avenue East Westfield, New Jersey 07090 Phone: (908) 518-7733
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11) 30 Schuyler Place, 2nd Floor Morristown, New Jersey 07960 Phone: (973) 984-0711
Side thought. Why can members of Congress send us pretty, printed mail at taxpayers’ expense but their offices don’t have 800 numbers?
Efforts to ensure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes to keep our communities strong are often spun as "Democratic" or "liberal" ideas. But the truth is, fair taxation is not a partisan issue. Here in New Jersey, strong majorities that include an increasing number of independents and Republicans want big corporations and the wealthiest individuals to pay their fair share.
The latest to speak out? Former state Sen. Bill Schluter.
Ever wonder how the rich keep getting richer and richer? Wonder no more. With power and precision, Robert Lenzner unmasks the method in "The Top 0.1% of the Nation Earn Half of All Capital Gains." That was the headline of Lenzner's recent StreetTalk column at forbes.com, and he cut immediately to the chase:
"Capital gains are the key ingredient of income disparity in the US-and the force behind the winner takes all mantra of our economic system. If you want [to] even out earning power in the U.S., you have to raise the 15% capital gains tax.
"Income and wealth disparities become even more absurd if we look at the top 0.1% of the nation's earners-rather than the more common 1%. The top 0.1%-about 315,000 individuals out of 315 million-are making about half of all capital gains on the sale of shares or property after 1 year; and these capital gains make up 60% of the income made by the Forbes 400."
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?
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.
The former Mayor may have had poor accounting practices and he did leave office with a deficit.
What I outline below are the statements from John Bencivengo that I believe supports my stance that a 33% permanent tax in the amount of $13.3 million was not necessary. I would not have voted for it. Instead, I would have insisted on a temporary tax increase - a one year event.
I also take the position that the furloughs of police officers and other Township employees was unnecessary. Given the failure to properly plow our streets last winter, the delays in leaf pick-up and Xmas Tree pick-up, the need to call in about a pot hole instead of proactiveness from PW to find and repair potholes, etc. I also question the need and wisdom to lay-off 27 people
Here in chronological order are statements from John Bencivengo from four of his Budget Messages - 2009 thru 2011 (he did two budgets this year).
Gilmore's last budget was $80 million.
The 2008 budget (JB's first) was $90 million.
From the 2009 Budget published at www.hamiltonnj.com
2009 Budget $94,207,813.92 (later ammended to $94,370,827.11)
Compared to last year the budget increased by $4.8 million
Overstaffing was identified and postion were eliminated. As a result 28 positions were eliminated and other postions were downgraded resulting in a savings of $2.2 million.
There were a total of 55 postions eliminated, of which 27 were lay-offs.
From the 2010 Budget published at www.hamiltonnj.com
2010 Budget $96,115,444.92
For the second fiscal year in a row there will be no increase in municipal property taxes. All residents will pay the same amount for municiipal taxes as they did in Fiscal Year 2009
They raised taxes in 2009, though? That's what JB said in his 2009 budget message as cited above and in the link to his Budget Message.
In addition, for the first time in memory the total amount of tax rateables has decreased by $2 miillion.
I am well aware that we were in the middle of the recession at this period. However, his $13.3 million permanent tax hike was not helping the situation.
This election year JB has departed from his $5 million, $10 million and other deficit claims and is going with inheriting a $16 million deficit. OK (not really), for arguments sake we'll go with what I believe to be an exaggeration.
Below, starting with a negative $16 million, I add all of the savings components and the tax increases to see if it balances out...it doesn't.
2008 Deficit - $16 million (one-time)
2008 Tax Hike +$13.3 million (4 times)
2008 Inspec Fees +$1 million (4 times)
2008 Lay-offs +2.2 million (4 times)
2009 Tax Hike +5.3 million (3 times)
Total $65.9 Million in added revenues.
From the $65.9 million we take out the $20 million in added spending cited above and are left with $45.9 million.
From the $49.5 million we take out the $5 million in lost aide and Energy Receipts and are left with $45.9 million.
Where is it? Where is the $45.9 million? It is not in snow removal and it is certainly not in pothole repair. It is not in new and updated corner nor mid-block cross walks located at our schools and our retail areas. I do not see it in a Complete Streets program or new streetscaping.
And when one goes through JB's own budgets it is obvious that two tax increases were overkill and unnecessary - especially in the middle of a recession which makes them reckless.
We are out of money, New Jersey! Shared sacrifice, pension rollbacks, pay freezes, pay cuts, higher fees, reduced services, shitting all over our public employees, women, the poor, kids with disabilities - PANDEMONIUM!
Oh, wait. You say you're the Ghermezian family from Canada, and you're worth $4 Billion American sawbucks? You've taken over Xanadu, re-named it American Dream and stand to turn an obscene profit?
I wrote this diary for my blog, but what's true for the federal gas tax is also relevant to New Jersey's state gas tax. We can increase revenue and create jobs in the state while not impacting those who can least afford it. The dollar figures cited would be different for New Jersey, but the concept of increasing the gas tax has lots of benefits if it's done right.
The federal gas tax of 18.4¢ per gallon is set to expire at the end of September. Today's New York Times has an editorial titled The Clear Case for the Gas Tax, enumerating several reasons why this tax should not be allowed to expire. The money collected goes to the Highway Trust Fund, which in turn creates jobs and upgrades our deteriorating infrastructure.
No doubt, the Tea Party Republicans will oppose a proposed extension of this tax, claiming that in these tough times we need to reduce the amount of money that the government collects. They will most certainly ignore the fact that by further depleting the Highway Trust Fund, we will move construction workers from the role of tax payer to the role of unemployment insurance recipient.
There's a Tea Party / Republican / Faux News talking point that all taxes are waste, that the government is incompetent, and all politicians are corrupt. If all politicians are corrupt, and you're a politician, aren't you saying "I'm Corrupt?" But beyond that ...
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.
A letter arrived for me yesterday in the mail from the Office of the Governor. Not sure I ever received one of those before (not even from Governor Corzine, though that might have been nice). So, I didn't know exactly what to expect. Was Christie looking to appoint a Democrat to a high-profile administration post? Commissioner of Labor perhaps?
Um, no.
"I've found that all politicians like to talk, but fewer actually take the time to listen. Thank you for joining me in Fair Lawn and giving me the opportunity to listen to you, your friends and neighbors and to learn a little more about what makes our State so great."
Naturally. While the state upends employee pensions and health benefits, squanders our broadcast television coverage, slashes spending on women's health, decimates aid to cities, and eliminates valuable programs up and down the state - surviving the budget axe is Christie's ongoing political propaganda campaign.
As if paying for Christie's campaign tourtown hall meetings weren't enough, the state gets to pay for follow-up letters to attendees. There's a fine line between government and politics, but they are supposed to be separate. I find it hard to call either the town hall meeting itself or this letter "government" when they feel so much more like politics.
There was a time when the ultimate source of pride in this country was being an American Citizen. It was an awesome thing, and we had free mandatory public education so everyone could be better citizens. We had public meetings and parties so people could be better engaged as citizens. Being an American meant being a CITIZEN in bold italic capital letters. Nothing superseded it.
But things started changing around 1980 or so with the Reagan Revolution as the concept of citizen was discounted. This reached its pinnacle during the roll up to the Iraq War as countless American citizens were demonized and attacked as traitors for not supporting a war of choice against a country that had not attacked and could not attack us.
Something had to take the place of being an American Citizen as the ultimate sign of patriotism and righteousness. Some tried "real Americans" but that just smacked of moronic stupidity. Others tried, "middle America" but that left out the majority of Americans living on the coast.
What took root was "Taxpayers" which came to symbolize everyone we were trying to serve. Why do we have to cut the benefits of public workers? The Taxpayers deserve it! Why do we need to eliminate medical care for the elderly? The Taxpayers deserve it! Why do we need to get Obama out of the White House? The Taxpayers deserve it! Why do we spend $10 million investigating Clinton's use of his privates? The Taxpayers deserve it! Why should we deny marriage equality? The Taxpayers deserve it!
And it goes for both sides of the aisle. Seemingly rational Democratic legislators start saying we need to protect Social Security because the Taxpayers deserve it! End the Iraq War why? The Taxpayers deserve it! Eliminate bargaining for public sector unions? The Taxpayers deserve it! (Yeah, I'm looking at you Sweeney. And your well-funded 2013 primary from a union member who understands how important bargaining is.)
But there is a massive flaw that makes the use of "Taxpayers" even more moronic than "real Americans." At least "real Americans" implies there are "unreal Americans" out there to fight.
But anyone who buys a tire for a car, a gallon of gasoline, takes a paycheck from an honest employer, rides an airplane, buys a house, buys a book, goes to the movies, or engages in any other of a billion different actions and transactions is an American Taxpayer.
In fact, you don't even have to set foot in the United States to be a taxpayer. A Saudi Arabian can own 100% of a company operating the United States, meaning they pay taxes here. A French citizen who never left Paris could export wine, and is now an American Taxpayer. That Mexican coyote sneaking illegal aliens into the United States and gets a hotel room for the people he pays to treat them like shit is an American Taxpayer.
And you know who else is an American Taxpayer? The school teacher Chris Christie demonized the other day as screwing over American Taxpayers. The state union worker who Steve Sweeney just demonized as sucking at the teat of American Taxpayers! All of these people who the right and "left" have demonized as screwing over the American Taxpayers are American Taxpayers!
But I'll take it one more step, and the saddest thing about what I am about to lay out for you is that it is not taking my argument to the illogical extreme. It is not reductio ad absurdum. It is simply a plain hard fact -- something sorely missing in our public and political discourse today -- that the following people were not only American Taxpayers but also New Jersey Taxpayers:
Abd al-Aziz al-Umari
Ahmed al-Ghamdi
Salim al-Hazmi
Nawaf al-Hazmi
Majid Muqid
Khalid al-Mihdhar
Hani Hanjur
These seven men at one time or another paid New Jersey and United States sales and income taxes, gasoline taxes, excise taxes, property taxes, and any number or other fees or taxes.
And on September 11th these seven men boarded airplanes and flew them the fuck into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and thanks to some courageous passengers an empty field in Pennsylvania.
So the next time some moronic politician wants to tell you that we are doing something for the taxpayers, don't let them use that rhetoric to shut you down. Just remind them that everyone is a taxpayer, even those who hate this country, and you don't want to justify political actions in a way that supports the terrorists of 9/11.
We need to go back to talking about American Citizens, about citizenship, about engaging in public life as an American. These are things that Americans and immigrants can aspire to and desire. It is hard to be a good citizen. It takes work to be a citizen. You have to sacrifice to be a citizen. You have to give up evenings with your children to be a citizen. You have to waste vacation days at work to be a citizen.
All you have to do to be a taxpayer is buy a Snickers bar.
New Jersey's seventh legislative district has traditionally encompassed the "River Towns" on the Route 130 corridor. But the legislative redistricting has put Republican Moorestown and Mount Laurel into that district.
Singleton was the Chief of Staff to former Speaker Joe Roberts and is currently President of New Jersey Carpenter's union, serves on the Turnpike Authority and Burlington County Bridge Commission, and is a trustee of Rowan University.
I had a chance interview Singleton prior to tonight's meeting of the Mount Laurel Democratic Club, where he spoke to the party faithful. In this four-minute video, Singleton talks about the state budget, marriage equality, jobs, and shared sacrifice.
Watching "National Small Business Week" and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's "small business" summit unfold over the last two weeks, real small business owners like me can only watch and wonder.
We wonder if the bankers and insurers who drove the global economy off a cliff really believe they can steal our identities without anyone so much as commenting. We wonder whether due diligence exists in any large-scale institution, as our representatives at every level of government, in the mainstream media, and even in academia allow yet another corporate fraud to go unchallenged.
Well, this small business owner, with 9 employees and a 33 year old woodworking company, isn't about to let them get off scot free this time.
Make no mistake, the U.S. Chamber's "America's Small Business Summit" is a carnival of big business spin bought and paid for with millions of dollars corporations have taken from average Americans. Those usurious credit card interest rates, debit fees and penalties average Americans fork over every day, those outrageous health insurance premiums, or for that matter the tax breaks, abatements and subsidies big companies wring out of state and local governments - these all pay for the distortion and misrepresentation that was on full display down in our nation's capital. And all in the name of "small business."
The companies who underwrote this snake oil show are big corporate brands. Just take a look at the lists of sponsors. Some names that will jump out at you are Sam's Club (a subsidiary of Walmart), Travelers, FedEx, AFLAC, VISA, AT&T, Raytheon, Google, Microsoft... if it sounds more like "Multi-National Corporations Week," that's probably because it is.
But wait, there's more! Thanks to the Citizens United decision, corporations that once had to figure out clever ways to evade election laws and flood the halls of Congress and state legislatures with wheelbarrows of cash can now do so with impunity. This week in Washington, DC is no exception. It's all about rolling back new banking regulations, like swipe fee reforms. And by all means let's do away with the first health care law actually designed to help small businesses (instead of insurance companies). Corporate cash in politics, who's afraid of that big bad wolf?
Why, you might ask, are the traditional business lobbies more interested in fronting for big banks and big insurance than in supporting policies that will actually help small businesses? Well, you could start with the fact that the insurance industry secretly gave the U.S. Chamber $86 million in 2009 to fight against health care reform. Indeed, the bulk of the Chamber's budget that year came from a very short list of anonymous big money donors.
So where are the real small business owners? We're holding the fort at our businesses, hanging on, struggling to weather the storm of the economic devastation wrought by Wall Street and the other sponsors of the sideshow in DC. On Main Street, the "let Wall Street run free" rhetoric now spewing forth in the name of small business is an insult. Tight credit, laid off customers, shuttered local plants, nonexistent local banks (replaced by Citi, Wells Fargo and B of A) are the real threats to Main Street, not swipe fee regulation.
On Main Street, we have each other's backs, we care about the condition of the roads, our schools, and our health care system... because they are ours. If corporate America has its way, our kids will go to corporate schools, our roads will be leased to corporate operators and our health care system, well, that's already been bought and sold and bought and sold again in corporate deals that leave critical community institutions, from the family practitioner to the community hospital, in critical condition.
It is time we take our country back for sure, take it back from Walmart and Raytheon, Halliburton and Citibank. Let's tell the big corporate players we see through their con. You can't invoke small business if you're a giant corporation, you can't call yourselves American if you evade your tax obligations with offshore corporate headquarters, and you can't fool us any more. Main Street is onto you.
Governor Christie is using his taxpayer-funded political rallies to promote his reverse Robin Hood agenda.
According to the Star-Ledger's Megan DeMarco, Governor Christie is once again twisting the facts by taking credit for the slow but steady Obama economic recovery. The governor is claiming that the unexpected increase in state revenue, reported at yesterday's Assembly Budget Committee meeting, is due to his economic policies. This completely ignores the fact that the country as a whole is starting to see the impact of the economic stimulus.
Hopefully the mainstream media will not simply reprint the governor's lies and talking points, but will provide a critical analysis of why our state's economy is lagging the national recovery.
Check out this thought provoking nugget by Jeremy Rosen via today's Courier Post which explores Governor Christie's casual borrowing of taxpayer money for personal expenses:
Sure $2,488 is a relatively small amount of money to owe, especially for a millionaire governor with $159,156 in his campaign coffers.
But what if everyone had the right to owe the state, penalty free?
One set of rules for Chris Christie, another set of rules for everyone else.
I'm going to Trenton on Friday to support the unions. Why? I've never been a union member. I'm retired on a fixed income, so taxes matter to me.
This nation is at a crossroads. The Koch-funded Tea Party is undermining the very foundations upon which America is based - the tenet that, as Benjamin Franklin so eloquently put it, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
America's best economic times were when the unions were the strongest. Fair wages help the economy; safe working conditions save lives and reduce health care costs, and standards of quality that are recommended by unions help consumers.
Markos Moulitsas ("Kos") posted a diary today entitled "Barack Obama's marketing fail." It points out how some of the mainstream media are twisting the results of the recent Deficit Commission announcement to pin the blame on the president for proposed cuts to social programs.
New Jersey Democrats are also failing at the marketing of their message to the mainstream media. Case in point: today's Philadelphia Inquirerarticle on how Pennsylvania governor-elect Tom Corbett hopes to emulate Chris Christie.
The Inquirer is one of the more politically balanced newspapers around. Its editorial page is slightly left-of-center, but it has carried far right columnists like Rick Santorum.
In its reporting on what our governor has done with the budget deficit, the Inquirer states:
Because Christie plugged that budget hole without raising taxes, he raised enough eyes round the country to catapult him from Jersey pol to national figure. (emphasis mine)
In discussions with several of my friends, it is clear that this is the common wisdom - Christie has cut taxes. Democrats have to do better in debunking this falsehood. According to the Home News Tribune, when you take into account the deferral of the homestead rebate, this year's property tax bill will average out to a 23.5 percent increase. And of course, other taxes and fees such as the NJ Transit fare increase are rising faster than inflation.
It's ironic that Barack Obama, who lowered taxes on the middle class, is getting a bum rap from the mainstream media, while Chris Christie, who tells seemingly credible lies, is getting the royal treatment.
