PACKET EDITORIAL, Dec. 15
By: Packet Editorial
What a hoax.
Perhaps there were a few gullible New Jersey residents who actually thought the Legislature would follow through on its promise to do something about the state’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes. There may even have been a lawmaker or two who naively believed the research and analysis conducted by four special joint committees throughout the fall would yield recommendations that would lead to the passage of meaningful reform legislation.
But the realists among us knew all along that nothing short of a citizens’ convention would really reform the way New Jersey collects and spends tax dollars.
And the haste with which Gov. Jon Corzine and legislative leaders are now backing away from virtually all of the 98 substantive recommendations made by those joint committees is all the proof we need as if any more were needed after so many decades of neglect that this is not a job for the Legislature.
The retreat from the four-volume, 561-page property-tax reform package advanced by the committees was nearly as total as it was swift. One big-ticket item proposed changes in public employee pension and health benefits came off the table almost immediately. Lawmakers lost much of their enthusiasm for this particular piece of reform when some 7,000 state workers and public schoolteachers showed up in Trenton to express their rather vehement opposition. And the governor was never keen on the idea of tinkering with public employee contracts by legislative fiat, believing appropriately, in our view that the matter would be better addressed through collective bargaining.
But that was just the first thumb that came out of the proverbial dike. One by one, the other pieces of the package were swept under a sea crocodile tears (and probably more than a little sweat) from legislators who saw every powerful special interest in the state lining up to protect its turf and target any lawmaker who stood in its way. A bill to revamp school and fire district elections: tabled. A measure to create a special state comptroller’s office to monitor state and local spending: on hold. Legislation to ban dual office-holding: going nowhere.
Meanwhile, the property-tax credits promised in the reform package 20 percent to property owners earning up to $100,000; 15 percent to those earning between $100,000 and $200,000; and 10 percent for those with incomes between $200,000 and $250,000 are in limbo. The reason: Nobody can figure out where to come up with the $2 billion to pay for them next year, much less sustain them in the years to come.
Back in July, when the Legislature kicked off its comprehensive review of the state’s tax structure in a special joint session, Gov. Corzine made his expectations clear. "If we fail to make the necessary steps to achieve sustainable relief and reform by Jan. 1," he declared, "then I will call and press for a citizens’ convention to be on the ballot in 2007." With 17 days left before Jan. 1, and no more legislative sessions scheduled this year, New Jersey property owners and taxpayers have every right to start demanding that Gov. Corzine make good on his word.
It would be easy at this point for those of us who felt all along that the Legislature would balk at genuine property-tax reform to engage in a little we-told-you-so gloating and more than a few curmudgeons are doing just that. But we don’t think it serves any useful purpose. We’d prefer to take the position that a clear-cut case for a citizens’ convention has now been made, and the situation calls for a more upbeat aphorism: better late than never.

