taxes – Page 14 – Hank Kalet

Hypocrisy, anyone?

Republican legislators are questioning the constitutionality of the Democrats’ plan for a 20 percent property tax credit, because it would be applied on a sliding scale — asking the majority to revise it to their liking or amend the constution.

Republicans claim a property tax relief bill that the Assembly approved 71-8 Monday is flawed be cause it would offer tax credits that vary based on a homeowner’s in come. That, they said, runs afoul of a provision in the state constitution that requires all property to be taxed based solely on its value, not on the income or personal characteristics of its owner.

The “uniformity clause,” they maintain, prevents policymakers from adjusting tax rates to discriminate against unpopular groups.

To clear up the problem, Republicans want Democrats to offer uniform levels of relief to all homeowners regardless of income — or to seek voter approval for a constitutional amendment specifically authorizing a graduated tax credit program.

The GOP plan, of course, has its own gradations (according to an AP story in The Record):

The Republican tax cut plan calls for amending the state constitution to guarantee the cut comes annually and giving a 30 percent cut for all households earning up to $200,000 and a 20 percent cut for all other households.

I’m not a huge fan of the tax credit program — it is nothing more than a Band-Aid — but it seems eminently fair to give the most relief to the people who need it most.

In any case, the GOP seems to be playing politics with this, playing to their economic base and offering a somewhat tepid version of the Democrats’ plan. It is, as Juan Melli on Blue Jersey called it yesterday, “blatant hypocrisy.”

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Time for a convention

I was lukewarm to the need for a constitutional convention on tax reform — as most progressives had been — but like the folks at Blue Jersey, I’ve come to see it as the only way we can get past the political inertia.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Dispatches: Sharing blame for failure

Dispatches is up on the site. Some thoughts on the stalled tax-reform process.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

9 cents?

Township Manager Matt Watkins presented a budget that includes a mind-boggling 15.8 percent tax hike.

The proposed $48.8 million spending plan, presented by Township Manager Matt Watkins, is $4.54 million larger — or 10.4 percent — than last year’s $43.8 million budget, outstripping the increase in revenue anticipated even with the rather drastic increase in the amount of surplus being included as revenue.

Much of the spending increase is take up by three areas — pensions (up $1.518 million), salaries (up $1.26 million) and the amount set aside to cover unpaid taxes ($1.21 million) — which might seem to let the township off the hook. After all, those increases are either prudent (the tax collection fund) or mandated by the state.

But it shouldn’t. The tax reform discussion swirling around the state is about moderating tax hikes and finding ways to control spending. The question the council needs to ask is what would be more offensive to South Brunswick residents — a reduction in some services or the $180 the tax hike will cost them (this doesn’t take into account any increase in school or county taxes).

My suggestion is that the council set a goal of cutting the proposed tax increase to 4 cents — which will require it to find about $1.4 million in cuts or new revenue. But it should do that without touching anymore of the surplus than has already been included.

It should then identify the cuts and hold a series of public forums explaining the proposals and their impacts on programs and tax bills and then put the question to residents — what would you do?

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick