"Saving the State" at the Expense of the People
Posted March 13, 2009

Explained in its most basic terms, the theory of utilitarianism says that the ends justify the means. In other words, regardless of how you get there, if the end is "good," the means don't matter. In reality, though, disastrous means in the long run unavoidably produce disastrous ends.

Unfortunately, New Jersey's Chief Executive by all indications does not grasp this point. Otherwise, he would not be advocating 'saving the state' at the expense of the people. Yet, that's exactly what Governor Jon Corzine plans to try to do with his proposal presented in his budget address this week that the state ax the property tax deduction for everyone except seniors.

Specifically, Corzine stated, "To help pay for the [homestead] rebates, we have proposed eliminating the property tax deduction next year on state income taxes for everyone but seniors." New Jersey homeowners are already taxed to the hilt, and now Corzine wants to tax middle-class homeowners even more!

Star Ledger Columnist Paul Mulshine put the proposal in perspective:

Back in 1976, when I first started reporting on the antics in Trenton, the affable and smooth-talking Brendan Byrne sold the state on adopting an income tax by arguing that it would produce revenue for the property-tax rebates.

We've now reached the point where Byrne's Democratic successor is proposing to impose the income tax on the property tax to fund rebates. Worse, those rebates will now be cut off at a mere $75,000 in annual income.

You have to make more than that just to get by in the part of the state where this newspaper circulates. So unless you're a senior citizen, not only do you lose your rebates, but you're now being taxed to give someone else a rebate.

Yes, those earning more than $75,000 will lose their rebates. Even for those who advocate higher taxes for the wealthy, by no definition can $75,000 be considered anywhere close to "wealthy" in New Jersey.

Governor Corzine may claim these measures are necessary to preserve the viability of the state during these difficult economic times, but what he fails to understand is that New Jersey is far more than simply a geographically-defined area. It is a culture comprised of the hardworking men and women who have chosen to call the Garden State their home, who have settled here to raise their families, and who have invested their time, talents, and resources into their businesses and communities.

By making New Jersey increasingly unaffordable through burdening the overburdened with additional taxes, Governor Corzine is driving out the very people who form the backbone of our state! Statistics may paint New Jersey as a wealthy state - and, indeed, in comparison with many other states we are. But the cost of living so drives down the value of that wealth that even the "wealthy" often find it hard to afford a New Jersey address.

If Governor Corzine persists in placing increasingly onerous tax burdens on New Jersey's hardworking families, he will soon find that the very fabric of the state has picked up and moved elsewhere. When that happens, even if the governor can claim to have saved the state, the price will have been the loss of its people. And even the more cynical of critics would not contend that the end would justify those means.

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