Maybe Corzine was Right About North Dakota?

I love history’s little ironies, Save Jerseyans.

Back in 2009, then-NJ Governor Jon Corzine infamously told state citizens to “go to North Dakota” if they wanted a lower unemployment rate. Yes, it’s hard to image why he lost! At least Obama tried to B.S. us! Checked-out Corzine threw up his arms and said yeah, the hell with it, move to some place less screwed up…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoTkXDjMVDE

Yes, it’s hard to image why he lost!

But perhaps we should’ve taken Corslime up on his suggestion after all? He’s clearly better at Democrat fundraising than global investing. I think he was damn near prophetic concerning North Dakota. They’re voting today to eliminate property taxes once and for all.

From the NYT:

I would like to be able to know that my home, no matter what happens to my income or my life, is not going to be taken away from me because I can’t pay a tax,” said Susan Beehler, one in a group of North Dakotans who have pressed for an amendment to the state’s Constitution to end the property tax. They argue that the tax is unpredictable, inconsistent, counter to the concept of property ownership and needless in a state that, thanks in part to wildly successful oil drilling, finds itself in the rare circumstance of carrying budget reserves.

“When,” Ms. Beehler asked, “did we come to believe that government should get rich and we should get poor?”

Amen, Ms. Beehler. Opponents of the property tax ban wonder where government can go to compensate for $812 million in lost annual property tax revenue. I doubt they need to worry. Fiscal conservatism, pro-growth policies and a robust energy industry have led to projected surpluses of roughly that size. It’s truly amazing what government can accomplished when it refrains from spending like a ship of drunken sailors!

Of course, New Jersey’s fiscal hole is hopelessly deep without a radical change in the dominant culture. Drunken sailors rule our waves and, as a direct result, we’re spending $32.1 billion in the new proposed budget. You could probably BUY North Dakota with what it allegedly takes to “run” our state in a given fiscal year. No amount of revenue is enough to satisfy the beast. In 2010, New Jersey collected just $25.01 billion in property taxes. The state raked in approximately $25.8 billion in 2011. The average property tax bill in the Garden State is $7,544/yr and rising. More slowly thanks to the cap? Yup. But rising nonetheless.

So how much is a plane ticket to North Dakota? Just hypothetically…

 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

1 Comment

  1. I don't know anybody that pays the "average property tax " of 7,500 .my town's average is now over 11K and mine is 2X's that .This state is a failure to my family ,in the respect of keeping their spending under control .every year I cut back ,cut back and cut back some more . I've been in my home for 30 years at year 27 I paid more in total taxes than I paid for my home … born and raised here I'm gone in 18 mos

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