Greg Bean
Coda
I might be missing something, but it’s tough to see the downside. As negotiations between the New Jersey Assembly and Gov. Jon Corzine continue to deteriorate, and adopting a budget that closes a $4 billion gap before the July 1 deadline becomes increasingly unlikely, a familiar specter is raising its head.
If a budget is not adopted by the deadline, we heard last week, state government might be forced to close down until the governor and the Assembly come to a meeting of the minds.
As if that were a bad thing!
Considering all the gimmicks and bad ideas coming out of Trenton lately, closing state government down for a spell might be the best thing that could happen to us. And it would certainly save us more money than the stunt Corzine pulled last week when he made a big deal out of putting 809 used state cars up for sale at bargain prices. He figured selling the cars might bring in $1 million or so, and save another million annually in fuel and maintenance costs. But that savings would pale in comparison to sending everyone who sups at the state trough home for a few weeks of unpaid leave.
I think we could get along for a little while on our own, don’t you? At least if we sent everyone home, the lawmakers wouldn’t be sitting down there trying to figure out new ways to pick our pockets – like taxing hospital beds. And if the thousands of state workers who apparently took vacation or personal time to attend a rally in support of Corzine’s budget June 19 and left their posts unattended are any indication, the state can get along without them for a while.
Fact is, voters in New Jersey should be appalled that in a state where cronyism, corruption and waste are rampant, where the state budget is rising three times faster every year than average wages, the sticking point seems to be whether we should raise the state sales tax from 6 to 7 percent. They should be angry that instead of demanding an end to horribly wasteful programs like the Abbott school districts and the Schools Construction Corporation; instead of demanding meaningful cuts to the state payroll; instead of demanding that benefits increases to state workers are more in line with what is awarded in the private sector; and instead of demanding real accountability in spending, the best the great minds down there can come up with are new ways to generate tax revenue.
I guess I’ve just become too cynical, but last week when I heard the governor’s argument that raising the sales tax would simply bring us more in line with the rest of the nation, I actually broke out laughing. New Jersey’s sales tax burden, per capita, is ranked at number 20, he reasoned, so this state’s residents have been getting off easy. Heck, even Nebraska, Wyoming and Arkansas have higher per capita sales tax burdens than New Jersey. Would it kill us to pay that extra penny?
Well, maybe it actually would.
The statistic not mentioned in the governor’s argument is that New Jersey already has the highest per capita property tax burden in the entire nation. Add to that the information that New Jersey residents pay the 16th highest rates of individual income taxes in the nation and a combined state/local tax burden that is No. 17 in the nation, and you begin to see why so many of our friends and neighbors are finding it impossible to stay even, let alone get ahead.
It’s a telling fact that Tax Freedom Day – the day when American taxpayers have finally earned enough to pay off their total tax bill for the year – was April 26 for most of the country this year. In New Jersey, Tax Freedom Day was May 6. In other words, we have to work an extra 10 days a year to pay our tax bills in this state than most Americans – and all our lawmakers can seem to do is argue over how to increase the length of our indentured servitude.
With that kind of attitude, I say a time-out in Trenton is the best thing that could happen. Shutting the state government down for a while because lawmakers can’t agree on a budget is nothing to be afraid of. In reality, it might be the realization of an ideal.
+++
Man, did I get blasted for my recent column about pumping our own gas in New Jersey.
A few people wrote in to say that while they figured they could pump their own gas if they had to, self-service stations probably wouldn’t save us much in the long run. A couple of nice people wrote to say that they hoped New Jersey would stay a full-service state, just because they liked the convenience.
But the majority of the folks who wrote were downright livid at my suggestion that – as one of only two states in the nation where pumping your own gas is illegal – we’re kind of oddballs.
One guy, who said I must own a lot of stock in an oil company (Not!), finished his message like this: “Mr. Bean, by your picture, I can only imagine that you are a senior citizen and think that pumping gas in the middle of January is good for the elderly and disabled as well. P.S. The next time you go to Pennsy and pump your own gas, please stay there!”
Another (fairly incomprehensible) reader, who said he’d been a longtime resident of New Jersey, wrote: “When I saw your articles I realized you know nothing about pumping your own gas. Try doing it in all kinds of weather, consider a young 17-year-old girl out alone at night. Think of the smell of gas on your hands when you are dressed in a business suit or evening dress, but most of all, gas is never priced cheaper when you pump your own, they just push up the price of the gas that the gas station employee pumps for you.”
After a statement supporting Ann Coulter, this reader concluded: “Your whold articles was really dumb.”
They was, was they? The whold caboodle of ’em? That cuts pretty deep, partner, although not as deep as the other guy’s crack about my column photo making me look old. I’m gonna find someone on the photo staff to take a new one of those portraits.
Just as soon as I get about a dozen bottles of Grecian Formula.
Gregory Bean is executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at [email protected].