The State Thimblerig

In July of 2006, then-Governor Jon S. Corzine and the New Jersey Legislature shut down state government for six days, costing the state millions of dollars. The reason? A fight over whether to raise the sales tax from 6% to 7% to ease the state’s nagging property-tax burden.

At that time, Save Jerseyans, a person or family spending $400 a week on taxable goods and services would pay about $200 more a year in sales tax pursuant to the increase.

gas-trentonThis was supposed to be part of “fundamental property tax reform.”

Now we have a .23 gas tax hike.

As of today, November 1st, 2016, it is now going to cost the average driver another $170 out of pocket (not including associated costs). And that doesn’t include related increases in the cost of good and services.

So we closed down a state for six days, lost millions in revenue and now, here we sit 10 years later, and Trenton’s solution is to ‘reduce’ the sales tax 3/8ths of a penny.

The taxpayers shelled out $200 more (annually since 2006); our reward is to have another $170+ ripped right out of our pockets.

If we haven’t had “fundamental property tax reform” in all that time, how is a 3/8ths of a cent reduction now going to solve the problem for the very reason we closed the state down in the first place?

That doesn’t even come close to compensating for the $370 taken out of our pockets, and our property taxes still haven’t gone down.

Oh, sorry: I forgot this isn’t about giving anything back to the taxpayers. It is our fault the TTF went bankrupt; we had to replenish a trust fund that we already paid into, and our property tax reform will again placed on the back burner…

…?

I am sure our legislators will tax us down the road for something else, and then they will ‘find’ enough money for us to pay for our own property tax discount.

For now, Save Jerseyans, enjoy living in the State of Thimblerig, its shell games, and your unnecessarily expensive gasoline.

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Joe Sinagra
About Joe Sinagra 73 Articles
Joe is a U.S. Air Force veteran, small businessman and former candidate for the New Jersey legislature and New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. He continues to actively work for GOP causes and candidates in the Central New Jersey region.