Tax Day Hits New Jersey
Posted April 17, 2009

New Jerseyans gathered at TEA Party Rallies across the state on Wednesday, April 15 - Tax Day - to send a definitive message to legislators from Trenton to Washington that we are sick and tired of be taxed literally out of house and home! In rallies held from Morristown to Cape May - including the Sussex County TEA Party Rally where NJFPC Founder and President Len Deo spoke on restoring fiscal responsibility to Trenton - Garden State residents raised a united voice to say, "Enough is enough!"

Also on Wednesday, Assembly Members Caroline Casagrande and Declan O'Scanlon (both R-Monmouth/Mercer) issued a press release noting that while national Tax Freedom Day - signifying the day by which the average taxpayer has earned enough in this calendar year to pay his or her local, state, and federal taxes - occurred on April 13, in New Jersey, Tax Freedom Day won't come for another two weeks. Indeed, according to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, New Jersey's Tax Freedom Day for 2009 is April 29. This means New Jersey residents must work 119 days just to meet our tax burden!

In fact, our state ranks 2^nd nationwide in the number of days residents must work for the government before they can begin keeping their hard-earned wages to support themselves and their families. The only state worse off is Connecticut, with Tax Freedom Day for that state arriving on April 30, one day later than ours.

Meanwhile, Governor Corzine used Tax Day to announce plans to "furlough" state workers for one day in both May and June "as a cost-saving measure." The governor stated, "Making the right choices to maintain a constitutionally balanced budget requires making difficult and tough decisions.. After careful review and assurance that the public safety of our State will not be compromised, I have approved the furlough plans submitted by the State departments and agencies."

In reality, as the governor's press release notes, the furloughs are "a one-day, temporary layoff of state employees." Yet, while eliminating two-days' worth of salaries for state employees will save money, the measure avoids addressing the structural failures of New Jersey's fiscal policies. Just as the furloughs are a "temporary" layoff, so, too, they are only a "temporary" fix.

From tax hikes and rebate eliminations to wage freezes and worker furloughs, Trenton seems to be "trying for fit" every fiscal band-aid at its disposal. But the truth is band-aids simply don't work for broken bones. Governor Corzine stressed the need to "take appropriate and necessary actions" to avoid the "imminent danger of being able to balance the FY09 budget appropriately." Indeed, he is correct that our state must take "appropriate and necessary actions," but such action must be structural. It must address the root problem, which is not insufficient revenue but rather overspending.

Our state's outrageous tax levels and chronic budgetary woes will continue until our current leadership in Trenton finally takes real action on this critical issue - or until the people of New Jersey finally reach their breaking point and turn tea party demonstrations into a ballot-box electoral revolution.

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