Rethinking New Jersey Tax Relief

For starters, one needs to stop talking about property tax relief as if it exists in a vacuum. It does not. Property tax relief since the 1970s has meant paying a personal income tax on the gross income tax of taxpayers in the state. Does that seem like tax relief to you?

It shouldn't.

Therefore, the only way to properly deal with property tax relief is to recognize that the solutions must not increase taxes elsewhere for that only shifts the revenue stream from property taxes to those other taxes. The tax burden remains the same or higher.

The four general means to property tax relief consist of reducing spending, increasing other taxes, overhauling school funding, and ending the property tax rebates. There are pros and cons to each, but those that are most likely to have a lasting effect are reducing spending and overhauling the school funding formulas. Of course the biggest impediment to changes in either are the unions, which are far too cozy to Gov. Corzine than one can possibly imagine.

Burden shifting does not solve the problem. It's time to face the facts and deal with the root causes - out of control spending and a school funding formula that is fundamentally flawed and imposed on the state by the judiciary.

As always, Enlighten NJ has more details on the dysfunctional state spending and revenue plans.