Guest Opinion: Governor Must Stop Catering to Rich

By Assemblyman Dan Benson, D-Mercer-Middlesex
Governor must stop catering to rich
   If you are a family of four with an annual household income of $100,000 who pays the average statewide property tax bill of $7,500, would you rather receive tax relief in the amount of $275 or $1,500? Put another way, would you rather save enough money annually to cover one week’s worth of groceries for your family or six weeks worth?
   Well, that is exactly what is at stake for working families and seniors throughout the 14th District and our state under competing tax relief proposals offered by the governor and my Assembly Democratic colleagues and I.
   The contrast really hit home while visiting the Castellano family in Hamilton recently to talk about the seemingly endless rise of property taxes. Just like so many families, they are faced with rising food and gas prices, not to mention the cost of raising two little girls, and can little afford the $4,400 to $4,700 in property taxes on their modest home.
   In all my years of knocking on doors talking with residents about what issue affected them most, I can easily say that property taxes has been the issue most quickly raised time and again. It is no different for Mr. Castellano, who said a reduction in his property taxes “would help out a lot … it really would.”
   The Assembly Democrats’ plan would provide a 20 percent property tax relief credit on the first $10,000 in property taxes paid for all residential homeowners with incomes up to $250,000. The plan would be phased-in over four years, but substantial relief would begin immediately, with the first year providing a credit of 20 percent on the first $5,000 in property taxes paid. For the Castellano family that would mean $880 to $940 saved in the first year, while under the governor’s plan it would be less than $50.
   The glaring difference between our plan and the governor’s, which only focuses on the income tax, is to whom the relief is targeted. Under our plan, 95 percent of New Jersey homeowners would receive substantial relief against property taxes. Under the governor’s plan, millionaires who already saw their income taxes cut in 2009 would get another tax break!
   On average property taxes have soared a net 20 percent since 2010, as confirmed in a recent analysis by NJ Spotlight (http://www.njspotlight.com) due, in part, to the governor’s decision to cut Homestead rebates by 75 percent his first year in office and by 50 percent last year for non-seniors and nondisabled residents.
   When you compare plans head-to-head, middle class homeowners will see real and substantial relief under the Assembly Democrats’ 20 percent property tax relief proposal. Seniors would continue to be eligible for the Senior Freeze property tax relief program and renters would see their existing property tax deduction triple from $50 to a minimum of $150. The plan will be funded through a combination of existing state revenue and by eliminating tax breaks for millionaires.
   It asks the approximately 16,000 income tax filers with annual incomes exceeding one million dollars to pay the same rate they did in 2009. By ending this existing tax break, millions of middle income families and seniors will see real property tax relief.
   Aren’t you tired of working harder and harder for less and less, or worrying about whether you can stay in your home and community during retirement? Especially, while those earning more than a million dollars a year saw their income tax rates drop three years ago, while property taxes continue to rise. Now the governor wants to reduce millionaires’ income taxes even more.
   Enough is enough. It’s time to end these special breaks and make sure that hardworking New Jersey families and seniors get the property tax relief they so deserve. It’s time to focus on real, substantial relief for those struggling to stay afloat in today’s tough economic times. Our plan focuses on New Jersey’s most crippling tax — the property tax — and sends relief where it is needed most — to New Jersey’s middle- and lower-income homeowners.
   Mr. Castellano, a working class husband and father from Hamilton put it best, “The wealthy, the rich are eating … it’s hard for families like us that are living day to day.”
   It’s time to stop catering to millionaires. It’s time to work together to deliver meaningful relief to those who need it most. Please join me in supporting our 20 percent property tax credit plan, together we can deliver the relief our families and seniors have earned.
Assemblyman Daniel Benson represents Mercer and Middlesex counties in the state Legislature.