More extensives tax reforms needed in New Jersey

Gov. Chris Christie’s slash-and-burn budgeting appears to be having little impact at the local level — or at least not the impact promised.


South Brunswick, for instance, is expected to raise its municipal tax rate almost 10 percent, on top of a big increase in school taxes that will cost taxpayers a combined $400 a year (the owner of a house assessed at $200,000).

And South Brunswick is not the only community looking at a tax increase. East Brunswick, despite reducing spending, is looking at a tax hike, as are numerous towns throughout the region — the Princetons, Lawrence, East Windsor — and the state.

The governor says the property tax hikes are the fault of local officials, but when so many towns are cutting spending and still ending up with tax hikes one has to wonder if there isn’t some larger issue at play.

My sense is that the system has collapsed. I’ve been complaining that the state’s government structure was unsustainable and broken, but it has been functioning. That seems no longer to be the case. The governor is proposing a tool kit that contains some nominally useful tools but still leaves the basic set of problems in place. A more comprehensive structural change is needed that includes a review of the corporate and income tax rates, the inefficiency of having 566 towns, nearly 600 school districts and more than 1,400 total taxing districts, and a frank discussion about priorities.

New Jersey continues to provide some useful and necessary services. We could save money if we were willing to further gut our social safety net, but then we would put our residents in the same position as my friend Lynn, who moved to North Carolina and has now been kicked off the unemployment insurance roll because the governor down there views unemployment insurance as an incentive to laziness. That seems a dubious tradeoff.

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

One thought on “More extensives tax reforms needed in New Jersey”

  1. Unfortunately, there is some academic research that correlates the end of \”insurance\” to reemployment. The Gooferment should not be in the \”social safety net\” business. Their job is to prevent force or fraud on \”the folks\”. Like a giant referee. The Gooferment really can't do ANYTHING well. Or cost effectively. Does it make any sense to do \”charity\” by giving loads of money to this piggish organization that will spend most of it on itself. True charity comes from individuals helping other individuals. In churches, fraternal organizations, or \”small\” charities. (Note the UnitedWay pays it's executives way to well. But the Salvation Army works better.) We need to DOWNSIZE DC and shrink Trenton. We need lower taxes and more liberty. imho!

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