This week’s podcast focuses on legislation that would ease the way for developers to take approved senior housing and change it into regular housing provided they offer affordable housing as part of the package.
Listen here.
Tag: State
Doughnuts and the holes
There are a lot of towns out there that are not going to be happy with municipal consolidation legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, but someone had to put this issue on the table.
The reality is that we cannot continue to function in a state as small as New Jersey, with 8 million people and a badly busted fiscal situation unless we reduce the number of towns. There are 566 in New Jersey, 611 school districts, 21 counties and numerous other tax districts. Many do not need to exist.
Fiscal failures lead to local budget woes
State budget woes have ramifications beyond the state budget, not only affecting state services, taxes and fees, but local taxes and services. Here are some headlines offering evidence of New Jersey’s failure to address its fiscal failures:
Negotiating a budget
Leading, reacting? Does it matter if the policy that results is a good one? The fact is that the development of a state budget has to be a conversation among many parties — the governor, the Legislature, the state’s citizens, the business community and its advocacy groups. The document, which is the single most important policy document any government can craft, outlines priorities and assigns dollar amounts to allow the state to put them into practice. The process, which begins with the governor’s budget address and unveiling of his budget, only works when everyone speaks his or her mind and is willing to compromise.
‘Wham’-boozled (Plus a podcast)
CJ Radio podcast on the budget can be heard here.
We had a few friends over tonight and the talk turned to the Corzine budget and the NJ101.5 “analysis” — which comes straight from the Republican talking points — of a so-called “double-whammy” that is supposed to cost middle-class taxpayers oodles of cash.
The double-whammy — the loss of property tax rebates for families making more than $75,000 and the one-year elimination of the property tax deduction — is not something that will be easy to swallow. But it’s not the apocalyptic policy that the Republicans are making it out to be.
Consider these statements from Assembly Republicans. Assemblyman Peter Biondi, who represents Hillsborough, Manville and Montgomery, said the budget would “drive more people out of our state.”
Republicans warned that families should hold onto their pocketbooks, and we weren’t surprised by his plan. The average family would lose approximately $1000 by this budget, not counting the impact of reduced municipal aid.
Monmouth County Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon was equally extreme:
“Property taxpayers, who yesterday heard that their property tax bills will skyrocket with cuts to municipal aid, loss of the tax deduction and elimination of rebates, have learned all too well that while the governor speaks, his tax men creep.”
And then there was Alex DeCroce, the Assembly Republican leader:
“For New Jersey taxpayers who are already saddled with the highest property taxes in the nation and are in danger of losing their homes and jobs during the worst recession in generations, Corzine’s budget is the equivalent of a knockout punch. I don’t consider anyone who would do this to families struggling trying to survive a friend of the middle class.”
Now, $1,000 is a lot of cash, but the question is whether it is enough of a hit to recreate the anti-Democrat backlash of the Florio era — especially given that most people have come to understand how bad off the state is fiscally.
That said, as Charles Stile points out in today’s Record, the chances “the Double Whammy will spark the middle-class revolt … or deliver a deadly a political blow” appear somewhat slim:
For one thing, Corzine’s rebate plan is not an across-the-board cut. It would affect about 500,000 tax filers, or 20 percent fewer than in 2008, officials said.
The program has been narrowed over the years, he says, with most of the upper-income voters having lost their rebates a long time ago. At the same time, the plan “preserves rebates for sacrosanct senior voters and his lower-middle-class Democratic base.”
The second part of the whammy — scrapping a provision that lets homeowners write off the first $10,000 of their property taxes — is also not as politically treacherous as it sounds.
Officials said Wednesday that it could cost taxpayers, on average, $219. But tax filers can still take the deduction this year on their 2008 tax returns. That means the loss of the deduction won’t be felt until they or their accountants fill out their taxes in spring 2010, which in Trenton’s political terms, is an eternity.
Does this make the plan a good one or the best one under bad circumstances? It’s too early to tell. Let the debates begin.
Hank Kalet 