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Christie Moves Boldly to Fix Jersey's Budget
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Mar 30, 2010 08:00pm |
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| Category | Analysis |
| Author | Josh Barro |
| News Date | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 01:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "Here's some good news for New Jersey residents, who pay more in state and local taxes than people anywhere else in the United States: earlier this month, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie released a budget proposal that contains no tax increases. He would even sunset, on schedule, a one-year "temporary" increase in the state's income tax.
This is a refreshing shift for the Garden State, where thirty years of governance by Republicans and Democrats has pushed state and local taxes ever higher, from the 10th-most taxed state in 1980 to #1 today, according to the Tax Foundation. And it means Christie has made an impressively austere proposal, given that New Jersey's $10.7 billion budget gap is one of the country's largest, on a percentage basis.
The best thing about Christie's approach is its comprehensiveness. He's not just saying "cut spending" -- though of course, he is saying that, in all areas of the state's budget. He also recognizes that state and local spending are interrelated issues, so he's proposed a property tax cap to make sure that state spending cuts don't just drive up local property taxes. And he's proposing institutional reforms that will enable localities to cope with aid cuts by reducing spending.
Often, efforts to contain costs in state or local government simply shift costs upstairs or downstairs. In the 1990s, New Jersey increased the generosity of state aid to school districts in an effort to tamp down rapidly rising local property taxes. Unfortunately, these reforms drove up income taxes and did little to restrain property taxes, which are still the country's highest. On the flip side, there is the risk that reductions in state aid will simply push property taxes even higher than they are now." |
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