If my household budget was in as bad a shape as the state’s, I’d probably be filing for bankruptcy.
But the state can’t do that, so it has to find a way to balance it’s budget at a time when state revenues have cratered and few consituencies are willing to sacrifice their perks. The standard whipping boys in this debate, of course, are the state worker unions, who get generous benefits, but the reality is that all of us are beneficiaries of some piece of the state budgetary pie.
There are numerous small towns who use the state police as their police force without paying anything — basically, allowing them to not provide their own police while getting a subsidy from taxpayers in towns that have their own departments.
There are the open-space and farmland-preservation subsidies that go to primarily suburban towns to keep development in check.
There is money for the arts, for education, for recreation. A load of money is spent to help businesses, seniors, the working poor.
Basically, there are few people in the state who are not touched in some positive way by the state budget.
And there are few people in the state willing to give up even the smallest piece of their pie. At the same time, no one wants to pay more in taxes, meaning that we are asking the state to spend more money without paying into the kitty to ensure it has the money we want it to spend.
So, I can’t complain too loudly about the cuts to the tax rebate program, even though I am going to get hit by them. There are other options that could be considered, but most could not survive the political maelstrom that would inevitably follow.
My challenge to those who want to cut first and ask questions later is this: Make specific suggestions on cuts, explain why they are fairer or more logical and sell those specifics to the people of the state. Go ahead. I dare you.
Hank Kalet 
It would appear that education, and the funding of it, in NJ is broken. I\’d suggest that the government exit the education business. And, that would put parents back in the business of educating their children. I don\’t pay to clothe them. I don\’t pay to feed them (for the most part). I had nothing to do with the decision to have them. So why do I have to pay to educate them badly. That would also put the teachers\’ union out of the political process. (No reason to pay and support politicians if there\’s no benefit.)
You could use that same lame argument for public roads. Why should I have to pay for roads in north Jersey or south Jersey? Why should I have to pay for federal roads in Hawaii? Many NJ schools are great and doing very well, thank you very much.Most schools are doing decent jobs of educating the kids, not all schools are failing in the least. Public schools are a reflection and creation of local school boards and local districts for the most part. Generally, the wealthier school districts which have more money to throw around and which have more involved parents have better academic results.However, ignorance and demagoguery will prevail, New Jerseyites will probably elect that wind bag Christie who will do nothing. Oh wait, he will protect us from gay marriage, that will do wonders for the NJ economy.
Sorry, but roads are no longer the \”third rail\” of Libertarian thought. There have been several interesting works about \”roads\”. Bottom line: Libertarians want to pay for the roads we use, but not the ones we don\’t. And, we want the same for everyone. But the gooferment should NOT be in the \”road\” business. Any more than it should be in the auto or bank business. Now if the cost of roads statewide was trivial and we could fund it with a telethon, then we wouldn\’t be discussing it. Unfortunately, the roads in NJ are neither in good shape, nor are they maintained. And, they are very expensive to \”do\” here; as opposed to SC. The funding through the gas tax was stolen by previous administrations. (Both D and R. I dislike them all equally.) So clearly the current \”system\” failed. So can we consider some new ideas?I agree. You shouldn\’t have to pay for FEDERAL roads in Hawaii. There shouldn\’t be FEDERAL roads at all!Imagine if roads were left to the free market. Maybe we could drive to California out on the WalMart highway and back on the UPS trail. Of course, both would be at autobann speeds and their trucks would have the right away to the passing lane. ROFL. Of course it would be \”free\” for WalMart shoppers and rest stops would be at the area WalMart store. LOL, I\’m sure the anonymous socialist will cry \”impossible\”. But then there are no roads in DisneyWorld. ROFL!