By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
In case you missed it today, Save Jerseyans, Governor Chris Christie appears to have won the latest battle in his ongoing feud with the Office of Legislative Services (OLS). Income tax collections are up 13%, sales tax revenues are up 3%, and overall revenues beat projections by $93 million in May 2013. That works out to $22.77 billion in revenue through May 2013, or $80 million more than Governor Christie’s people predicted.
Wonderful. Now we can sit back and watch the Administration and its allies engage in a spin war against the Trenton Democrats and their allies in OLS and the media.
There’s just one problem: we’ve officially had more debate for FY 2014 over how much money Trenton is making off of us, the taxpayers, than how much of our money they’re spending over the same period. A $33 billion budget — among the largest in state history — passed without so much as a whimper from either side of aisle, yet the talking heads are willing to verbally scalp each other over motor vehicle receipts? This is what we mean when we say government has “a spending problem, not a revenue problem.” And nowhere is it more true than Trenton, my fellow taxpayers!
When a family member or dear friend has a drinking problem, do you concern yourself with how much they’re consuming and try to stop it? Or do you openly fret over the supply? This isn’t brain surgery, folks, but your elected representatives either don’t get it or don’t care to get it. It’s what’s wrong with Trenton, and until someone is willing to do something about it, I don’t see any room for significant improvement. After all, admitting the existence of a problem is the first step on any road to recovery. Trenton isn’t there yet…
Surplus is no longer a word associate with government for this very problem. Elected officials act like teenage girls with their parents credit card
@Joe I think teenage girls could probably bargain shop a little better than the "adults" under the capital dome.
Well they at least know if they max their card our there is consequences. They don't just call the bank and tell them to increase the limit because they'll be good for it someday