Cutting tax burden must be priority

By Jay Webber | The Save Jersey Blog

Note: this post originally appeared as a letter to the editor in response to The Record’s “Death and taxes” (Editorial, Nov. 1)

Jay Webber
Jay Webber

The Record was right. Policymakers should focus first on reforming New Jersey’s death tax. New Jersey is 50th out of 50 states in taxation overall, and high taxes remain our biggest policy problem. The state’s estate and inheritance taxes combined are the worst in the nation and should be reformed, if not repealed, right now. Doing so will bring many benefits for our individuals, families, businesses and economy. That’s why tax relief should be priority No. 1 for state lawmakers, and it is mine.

Another priority for policymakers is transportation infrastructure funding. I prefer to meet our transportation funding needs through cost-cutting, reallocating existing spending, and prudent voter approved borrowing, not by raising taxes. But some influential policymakers are pushing a tax increase to pay for infrastructure improvements, a move that is aimed at solving one problem, but that would take us in the wrong direction in solving our tax problem.

So if others are going to insist on a tax increase, then I and some others will insist on tax relief as part of any equation that addresses infrastructure funding. The main message to the tax-increase advocates: If you want a tax to go up to fund transportation, then another tax, such as the death tax, must come down even more, so that we can begin actually cutting taxes in New Jersey again.

Jay Webber
Morris Plains, Nov. 4
The writer, a Republican, represents the 26th District in the state Assembly.

Jay Webber
About Jay Webber 9 Articles
JAY WEBBER represents New Jersey's 26th Legislative District in the General Assembly. He is presently the Republican nominee for U.S. House in the 11th Congressional District.

4 Comments

  1. Jay articulately explains how he will sell out taxpayers, by voting to “reform” the Death Tax that affects nearly no one in exchange for putting a sales tax on gasoline @ 20+ cents per gallon. That’s what I call brilliant thinking. It’s why the GOP is a joke in this state.

  2. Not to sound like a Democrat here, but with taxes beginning at 675k on inheritance with multiple exclusions for spouses, this is classic shifting of tax burden to the poor and middle class from the “well to do”. This deal is a joke andRepublicans shouldn’t take the bait.

  3. The death tax should have been long gone, and there is no need what so ever for any additional gas tax…Jay Webbe speaks of cost cutting meaures; GOOD, and let’s start by becoming a right to work state.

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