EDITORIAL: Fiscal and tax questions that need to be asked

by centraljersey.com
Let’s have a conversation about taxes.
Not the kind of conversation we’ve grown used to, in which taxpayers and politicians complain about rising property tax bills and bad mouth the long list of scapegoats, but one in which we ask ourselves honest questions about what we expect from our state and local governments and how much we are willing to pay for the services we believe are necessary.
   On Friday, every town in the state will submit their responses to a questionnaire tied by Gov. Chris Christie to their state aid, a document called Local Government Best Practices that is designed to get municipal governments to look over their operations and aid them in determining whether they are functioning in the best and most efficient manner possible.
   The questionnaire, according to the liberal research group New Jersey Policy Perspective, has some utility. Most of the questions are those that towns should have been asking all along.But its usefulness has its limits — too many questions are left unasked and tying the answers to state aid allocation makes little sense.
   The questionnaire is part of the governor’s larger property tax toolkit, which includes pension and healthcare reforms, changes to civil service and arbitration rules and other tools that the governor believes will help stem the growth of property taxes in New Jersey.
   New Jersey taxpayers certainly are rooting for his success. In poll after poll, New Jersey residents say that taxes — and property taxes in particular — are their chief concern. Taxpayers, on average, pay more in property taxes in New Jersey than in any other state, though that expense is partially offset by somewhat lower income taxes and one of the lowest gas taxes in the nation.
   The toolkit, however, is just a partial solution, a reactionary one unlikely to improve efficiency. Like the property tax cap approved earlier this year, it is a sop to public anger and leaves too many important questions unasked.
   That’s why we believe it is time to move beyond the partial solutions being offered — the governor’s tool kit and the weak reform ideas offered four years ago during a special joint legislative session — to talk about the problems that really drive taxes upward in the state.The questions can be divided into three basic areas of discussion (though they do overlap):
   Program efficiency. What programs should the state provide and what should be a local responsibility? Are there tasks now managed by a government agency that should be handled privately and are their programs that have outlived their usefulness.
   By the same token, are their private programs that could be provided more equitably and efficiently by government?
   Layers of government. New Jersey will never get a handle on the spending side of the ledger if it cannot answer why it needs 566 local governments, nearly 600 school districts and several hundred other taxing districts (fire, trash, etc.), along with 21 counties, numerous independent state authorities and a massive state government.
   Who pays. Does our outsized reliance on property taxes do a disservice to those on the lower end of the income scale? Does it create unintended consequences (think in terms of land-use planning)? Should we rely more on income taxes, corporate taxes, sales taxes? Who benefits now and who would benefit from a change?
   These are the questions we are not asking, questions that if left unanswered will only undermine our efforts at addressing the state’s budget and tax troubles.