The breathless reporting of studies like these drive me crazy. It’s not the conclusion that I question — there is no doubt that people are leaving New Jersey — but the motivation behind these studies and the failure of major news organizations to call the groups that author them what they are.
Let’s put the facts on the table: The Tax Foundation may be nonpartisan, as it claims, but it is not nonideological. Just one look at its board of directors — high-level corporate officers, former members of or advisors to the Bush administration and the McCain campaign and a former Republican Congressman — and you can see the genesis of my concern.
As I said, the results may be spot on, but the characterization of the organization pushing the study is misleading. Imagine if the Economic Policy Institute or the Center for Economic Policy Research were described only as nonpartisan research groups — which they are. What would conservatives do?
- Send me an e-mail.
- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. it can be ordered here.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Hank Kalet 
This drives me crazy as well. NJ is not losing people. NJ IS NOT LOSING PEOPLE. That Rutgers study of 2007 did not include foreign immigration to NJ and the very healthy NJ birth rate. The New Jersey Policy Perspective debunked this myth that NJ is losing people more than a year ago. NJ is still gaining in population, NJ is still the most densely populated state in the union. Just keep repeating the lie that NJ is losing people and voila, it becomes a \”fact.\” Once you establish this lie, then you can postulate another lie that they are leaving because of our supposed high taxes. Our property taxes are high but our other taxes are COMPARABLE TO or lower than many other states. NJ rich folks are not flying out of NJ either. The NJ Policy Perspective debunks that myth, too. Go to the US Census, it shows NJ gaining in population. How the hell can you be losing people when the US Census shows us gaining in population. Jaysus, when does this crap end. NJ IS NOT LOSING PEOPLE, IT'S NOT EVEN LOSING RICH FOLKS.
From the Us Census:the 2000 population for NJ was 8,414,350.The 2009 population for NJ was 8,707,739. Oh yeah, we're losing people except that we didn't. 8,707,739 (2009) is larger than 8,414,350 (2000). The right wing jerks can shove the extra 293,389 people we gained over almost 10 years up their collective butt cheeks. Oh, I'm sorry, I was just joking, no offense intended.
Apparently, there was not even a \”study\” to which you are referring.http://taxfoundation.org/blog/show/26722.html
From the NJ Policy Perspective:This report confirms the exceptional growth in the local immigrant population. For example, between 2000 and 2006, while the number of immigrants in New Jersey as a whole increased by 14 percent, the number of immigrants in Mercer County grew by 48 percent — far more than the five percent increase in the county's overall population. The best estimates available suggest that just over one-quarter of the county's 71,000 immigrants are in the United States illegally, but many of them are parents of children who were born in this country. As a result, the welfare of the children, who are U.S. citizens, depends on adults who have no legal rights, live in constant fear and may be exploited and abused with impunity by employers and others. At the same time, they provide services and labor that have been vital to the county's prosperity.
These phoney baloney right wing corporate funded and corporate controlled \”think tanks\” are always coming up with studies that favor lowering taxes for the rich and the big corporations. As it is, the rich and the multinational corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes. These right wing libertarian so called think tanks are propaganda arms of corporate America, laying the groundwork for not paying taxes and avoiding regulations. A lying duplicitous blowhard like Christie will misuse this study as proof positive that we must lower taxes on the rich and the big corporations. Never mind the fact that we are not losing people, we are still gaining in population whether that was the point of this latest garbage from a right wing think tank or not. Apparently. The low information NJ101.5 listeners will use this study to proclaim, see, NJ is losing people because of our high taxes. Overall and on average our taxes are no higher than most states. Property taxes are high but we have high rated public schools for the money we spend. NJ's schools are in the top tier of public schools but Lord knows what will happen after 4 yours of Christie the destroyer. Apparently.
Deborah Howlett, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, said she disagrees that the state has an outmigration problem.\”It appalls me that people buy into this idea that people are fleeing New Jersey,\” she said. \”There are still more people in New Jersey than five years ago. There is not a mass exodus.\”
Below is part of an article from 2007, debunking the myth that NJ is losing population by the then Rutgers study. The Rutgers study left out international immigration to NJ and the NJ birth rate. The same crap over and over:By MARY E. FORSBERGPublished: November 18, 2007 It seems as if everyone is talking about a recent study by Rutgers University that suggests that New Jersey is soon to be a barren state devoid of people, shops and commerce. Reaction to the report has been breathless, with newspaper headlines proclaiming ''Exodus from N.J. grows'' and ''Honey, I shrunk N.J.'' The accompanying news articles are using phrases like ''population drain'' and ''fleeing the state in droves.'' One editorial suggested that ''New Jerseyans should not bother getting to know their neighbors,'' since they'll be leaving soon. The Mercer County Chamber of Commerce held a discussion on the report and vowed to create a foundation aimed at changing the state's business climate. But a closer inspection shows that the Rutgers report's doomsday forecast is based on selective use of census data. The report notes that more people are leaving New Jersey for other states than are moving in from other states. By this measurement, 231,565 more people left than came. When only state-to-state movement is considered, New Jersey is indeed one of 24 states that are losing population to Southern and Western states. But such movement is only part of the story. When births, deaths and immigration are figured in — data that the Rutgers report did not include — only Louisiana and North Dakota have lost population in this decade. The United States population has grown by nearly 18 million people since 2000 and 40 percent of this growth is immigrants from other countries. New Jersey benefits from this, having the fifth-largest immigrant influx of any state. The Rutgers study ignores these people. It does not point out that New Jersey's population has actually grown by 310,213 since 2000. Nor does it mention that the number of people coming to the state from other countries is greater than the number who have moved from New Jersey to another state. Census data not found in the Rutgers report reveal that nearly 360,000 people have moved to New Jersey from other countries; just under 278,000 have moved to another state.
Part 2 of the 2007 article:So, New Jersey's population is not declining. True, it is growing at a slower rate than in the past. But is that a bad thing for the nation's most densely populated state? The Rutgers analysis says New Jersey is not just losing people, but money too. It uses Internal Revenue Service data that track the residence of federal tax filers to show which states people move to and from each year. But here again, major points are missed. For example, though more people leave New Jersey for other states than move in from other states, the median income of people who come is higher than that of those who leave. This suggests that many who leave are retirees, while many who come are in their peak earning years. A more accurate picture can be seen by examining state income tax data from the New Jersey Division of Taxation. In 2005 (the most recent year for which state data are available), more than 2.7 million income tax returns were filed in New Jersey, an increase of 6.2 percent from 2001. State income tax in 2005 was assessed on gross income of $258.1 billion, up 15 percent from 2001. And, in 2005 there were 37,648 tax returns with incomes greater than $500,000, up from 28,000 in 2001. New Jersey is holding its own, but that doesn't mean there are no problems. The lack of affordable housing remains an issue, and for too long, government has ignored the need to invest in transportation and other areas that will make the state more livable and maximize the advantage of New Jersey's location. What we need is an honest look at our priorities and how to pay for them, not scary warnings for the last person leaving the state to turn out the lights. There's no question that New Jersey inspires ambivalence among its residents. But despite quality-of-life challenges, it continues to attract and offer economic opportunity to hard-working people from all over the world. Despite the claims by the Rutgers report, the sky over New Jersey is not falling.