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Category: Economics

Kyrillos Demands IRS Probe

May. 31 Abuse of Power, Big Government, Corruption, Ethics, Joe Kyrillos, State Senate, Taxes 6 comments

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Joe Kyrillos at 2012 RNCA New Jersey legislator is calling for a more immediate and thorough investigation into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and its targeting of conservative group and individuals. 

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) today accused the IRS of “political spying” and introduced a resolution urgins those with oversight responsibilities to “reveal everyone involved so that they can be held accountable.”

Congress wasn’t in session this week but staffers are reportedly busy preparing for a fresh round of hearings. Kyrillos, for his part, is facing a Republican Primary fight on Tuesday from Lee Ann Bellew and a Tea Party-backed ticket; he undoubtedly hopes base voters appreciate his modest attempt to help keep the story churning.

The text of Sen. Kyrillos’s resolution is below the fold…

CONTINUE READING….

RGA Attacks Buono’s Tax Votes

May. 30 Barbara Buono, Campaign Ads, Chris Christie, Economics, Election 2013, State Senate, Taxes 6 comments

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Screenshot from new RGA TV ad attacking Barbara Buono's record.

Screenshot from new RGA TV ad attacking Barbara Buono’s record.

The Republican Governors Association (RGA) is on the air in New Jersey. Virginia won’t get all of the love this year.

Titled “Barbara Buono: Taking New Jersey Backwards,” the roughly 30-second televised spot is a damning summary of the Democrat state senator’s abysmal voting history.

The narrator also (fairly) accuses Buono of being the architect of Jon Corzine’s budgets. Earlier this year, the RGA attempted to pull the rug out from under the N.J. Democrats’ presumptive nominee by pointing out that she was their back up selection after Cory Booker bowed out.

Governor Christie released his own new TV ad on Thursday which also seeks to provide voters with a clear contrast to the pre-Christie years but without mentioning Buono by name.

Christie is the former RGA Vice Chair and he’s raised plenty for the organization and its candidates since taking office in January 2010. Unlike last time around (when Jon Corzine outspent him by nearly 3 to 1), the advertising balance is likely to favor the incumbent straight through November.

I’ve posted the commercial and it’s full script below the fold, Save Jerseyans…

CONTINUE READING….

You Get What You Vote For

May. 24 Big Government, Economics 2 comments

Report Details New Jersey’s Economic Struggles and Why They Came to Be

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Wooden Ballot BoxThe nonpartisan American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is out with a new report that tracks job creation and general economy growth in each of America’s fifty states (not “57″ for those of you who learned math in an Abbott District or Indonesian school) over the course of a full decade.

Surprise! Almost without exception, “red” states are growing faster and better than their blue state cousins. That includes blue Jersey which was the 3rd worst economic performer in America from 2001 to 2011.

We’ve analyzed New Jersey’s plight from every angle here at the blog since our doors opened in May 2008, but please read Joe Sinagra’s excellent Save Jersey guest post if you haven’t already, Save Jerseyans. His detailed explanation of how the Garden State went from being an economic powerhouse to a fiscal basket case — and who is REALLY responsible for it — provides the best explanation out there for the ALEC report’s results… because you get what you vote for in a democratic system! Virtually every time. For more proof, revisit the Tax Foundation’s rankings and you’ll observe how spookily similar the lists appear.

Party still matters.

So click here to read ALEC’s New Jersey-specific breakdown. Then go ahead and share it with a friend who is either (1) considering voting for Barbara Buono or who (2) doesn’t appreciate what Chris Christie inherited in 2010. Their ignorance is dangerous with so much on the line this November.

Buono’s Hypocrisy by the Numbers

May. 21 Barbara Buono, Election 2013, Property Taxes, Spending, state budget, Taxes 8 comments

A Detailed History of How Democrat Governors (and Their Legislative Allies) Destroyed New Jersey’s Fiscal Health

By Joe Sinagra | The Save Jersey Blog

A screenshot from Governor Chris Christie's first 2013 attack ad aimed at Barbara Buono's voting record.

A screenshot from Governor Chris Christie’s first 2013 attack ad aimed at Barbara Buono’s voting record.

Yes, we have the highest taxes due to the last two previous administrations. Have you ever wondered why?

Barbara Buono can spin all she likes! Let’s take our time to examine how we got here, figure by figure, just in case there’s any confusion:

Corzine and McGreevey combined added over 154 tax increases. A budget that was in the toilet, the state was going broke, and Corzine was writing checks knowing the well was running dry. On July 15, 2006, the sales tax was raised from 6% to 7% that was supposed to fund our rebates and the following year there was no rebate. So we funded our own rebate and, the following year, there wasn’t any money as a result.

Tax and spend, spend and tax with Barbara Buono supporting the tax increases all along the way. Now she is running on a platform of. . . cutting taxes?

In July of 2009, Corzine boasted that “13,000 private sector jobs were added last month because of our business-friendly policies,” when in actuality the state lost 3,100 jobs in June of 2009. Jon Corzine claimed he created 13,000 jobs, but his actions after his inauguration proved that facts often speak differently than rhetoric. Faced with an unemployment toll that rose to 9.2 percent, the Corzine administration spin was that the loss of jobs in June was the smallest since the recession began. Yet there were thousands of unemployed who were already standing in line, long before Chris Christie was even thinking of running for Governor.

Corzine extended the 4% corporate tax surcharge and raised taxes by 25 % on liquor. His Lt. Governor pick, Loretta Weinberg, had voted for every tax increase that ex-Governor Jim McGreevey wished for and every tax increase that Jon Corzine proposed; she was never interested in cutting government expenditures or standing up to government unions. Instead, she has consistently supported ever-increasing government expansions.

With the beginning of the recession in December 2007, New Jersey already lost 150,100 jobs…

CONTINUE READING….

A Job is “Greatest Social Program”

May. 17 Chris Christie, Economics, Unemployment 4 comments

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

I’m sometimes critical of the Trenton GOP because I want them to succeed, Save Jerseyans. So when its members and affiliates do a lousy job of articulating a winning contrast for one reason or another, you can count on Save Jersey bloggers to speak up.

The worst part is that I know they’re capable of it! Obviously there are few better communicators in modern American politics than Chris Christie, and when he’s disposed to fighting for a particular conservative principle, he reaches a level of impressive yet easily digestible eloquence that few other GOP’ers are able to replicate.

One such example transpired at yesterday’s Sayreville town hall:

By way of background, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Thursday that New Jersey’s unemployment rate fell by 0.3% to 8.7% in April driven by the addition of 4,100 private sector jobs.

A transcript of this video is below the fold…

CONTINUE READING….

Not Just Bad for Business

May. 13 Big Government, Taxes 3 comments

New Internet Sales Taxes Will Grow and Expand the Size of Government, Too

By Scott Alexander | The Save Jersey Blog

Bill Clinton InternetWe stand at a crossroads in America, Save Jerseyans.

Maybe I am the only one who sees it this way, but the Federal Government is poised to grow State Government by seeking to expand taxation of internet sales. The Senate recently passed the Marketplace Fairness Act bill [S-743} by a vote of 69-27 and it is now going to the House. It should be renamed the Government Unfair Act of Expansion. President Obama supports the bill, too.

This is the way I see it: you can pick any U.S. state but let’s take New Jersey as an example. The 2013 proposed budget for New Jersey is $32.1 billion. We have taxes and other revenues equal to that amount to create a balanced budget. If we were to add in $212 million in unrealized internet taxes from 2012 for example, we would grow the budget 6.6%.

In other words, we would grow New Jersey state government by 6.6%.

CONTINUE READING….

120 Billion More Reasons

May. 09 Declan O’Scanlon, Property Taxes, State Assembly 3 comments

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

CoinsThe Assembly GOP found a new number today to trumpet ahead of the 2013 elections: $540 million.

That’s how much they say pension and health benefits reforms have saved New Jersey’s property taxpayers.

“After property taxes soared by 70 percent under Democrat administrations last decade, our reforms limit growth to less than the rate of inflation,” said Asm. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) who co-sponsored the pension reform legislation:

Taxpayer savings from pension reform escalated from $267 million last year to $543 million this year. Combined with $100 million savings from healthcare reform, property taxpayers are saving more than $645 million this year. Those numbers will continue to add up and are sweet music to the ears of every property taxpayer in New Jersey.”

CONTINUE READING….

Charity Meets Fiscal Sanity

May. 06 Jay Webber, State Assembly, Taxes 5 comments

Bill Designed to Improve Charitable Giving Clear Assembly Committee

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Jay WebberWe talk so much about what’s wrong with Trenton that it’s sometime easy to forget that there are a few people fighting for worthwhile ideas. Occasionally.

Well, a solid bill got out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Monday, Save Jerseyans. So let’s acknowledge it.

Our friend Asm. Jay Webber’s new legislation (A-3860) “would establish that a contribution from an out-of-state resident to a New Jersey-based charitable organization cannot be used as a factor for determining whether that individual is subject to the State income tax” according to an Assembly GOP release. Hence, if this bill makes it through the legislature and past Chris Christie’s desk, the New Jersey Division of Taxation will cease considering an individual’s charitable contributions in determining his or her domicile for taxation purpose.

Private charity. Fiscal sanity. Perfect together.

Take note liberals…