According to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, a retired couple living on a fixed income of $40,000 would see an increase of $1,320 in taxes under the governor's plan while a family making $1.2 million would receive a tax cut of $11,598. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100620/ts_nm/us_newjersey_millionaires New Jersey battles over tax on millionaires PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) â New Jersey politicians are due to battle on Monday over whether to slap a tax on millionaires or cut services for low-income senior citizens and the disabled. The clash in the state legislature is part of a wider battle over how to erase a $10.7 billion budget deficit and is emblematic of the decisions facing states across America whose budget deficits have soared during the recession. Democrats want to re-impose a one-year tax on millionaires that has been vetoed by Republican Governor Chris Christie. The 10.75 percent tax on income above $1 million would hit 16,000 people, some of them likely to work as financial professionals just across the Hudson River in New York. Both houses of the legislature, which are controlled by Democrats, previously approved the tax in May but it was immediately vetoed by Christie, who has pledged not to raise taxes. The tax would raise $637 million that the state would use to fund rebate checks of up to $1,295 for some 600,000 senior citizens who would otherwise face steep increases in their property taxes during fiscal 2011. According to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, a retired couple living on a fixed income of $40,000 would see an increase of $1,320 in taxes under the governor's plan while a family making $1.2 million would receive a tax cut of $11,598. "Governor Christie's heartless vetoes denied property tax relief to senior citizens struggling to make ends meet," Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan said in a statement. The governor vetoed the tax because it would deter hiring, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said. "These are the people who invest in New Jersey," Drewniak said. "That's where a lot of the hiring and the business expansion would come from." Cryan appealed to the minority Republicans to join Democrats in Monday's vote after the original legislation passed by 46 to 32, along party lines. Democrats need 54 votes to override a veto. Senate President Stephen Sweeney said he would immediately hold a vote in the Senate if the override is passed in the Assembly. If it succeeds, the override would be the first since 1997. Two months after taking office in January, Christie announced cuts to hundreds of state programs and spending reductions in every department, calling New Jersey's budget hole a "grand canyon." In his May 20 veto of the tax, Christie said the bill would have represented the 116th increase in taxes in the last eight years. New Jersey's shortfall, at 37.4 percent of the current year's budget, is the second-highest among U.S. states behind Nevada, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
This is what the entire democratic party should run on in the upcoming elections The majority of Sr's vote Republican,so they're getting what they asked for
"The governor vetoed the tax because it would deter hiring", Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said.
Where are all the ET Republicans who support taxing retired senior citizens 1,350 while giving millionaires a 11,500 tax cut ?
That's your answer to NJ's budgetary problems? Tax more? Christie is doing the right thing, even if he's pissing off a lot of the entitlement receivers there. Having spent a good portion of my life in NJ, and with all of my family still there, I can tell you that the majority of voters (minus union/government and teachers) think he's "bang on" with his approach. The state is bankrupt, much like similar lib state California. Stop spending. Cuts have to come. I'm not saying which cuts are right and which are wrong, but tax increases into infinity are NOT the answer. But you wouldn't get that, dot-boy. You're a liberal/socialist. Every state/country you guys run ends up in the toilet financially.
New Jersey's problems are similar to Cailfornia's. I've lived in California for the last 30+ years and I've watched these problems develop over time: 1. The state of California has 12% of the nation's population and 32% of all the country's welfare cases because of the constantly increasing benefits offered over the years. 2. Illegal aliens cost the state somewhere between $3-7 billion a year, depending whose numbers you look at. 3. The alliance between politicians and the public employee unions has resulted in a fiscal disaster. The unions deliver votes and money at election time, and the politicians give public employee unions massive raises and benefits. California's public employees are now the highest paid in the country, and the retirement health/pension program has an unfunded liability of a half trillion dollars. (Yes, that trillion, not billion). 4. Over the past 10 years, the legislature has increased government spending at twice the rate of the growth in the California economy. It doesn't take a math genius to figure out that eventually the train is going to run off the tracks. Even huge tax increases and massive borrowing haven't been enough to keep pace. 5. The California legislature has done everything in its power to destroy private enterprise with high taxes (now 4th highest per capita in the country, up from 17th just a few years ago) and a maze of regulations that nobody understands. Regulatory costs in California are now the highest in the nation. Companies like Telmar Networks, Terumo Medical, Creel Printing and Stasis Engineering have left the state for good. Hewlett Packard, eBay, JC Penny, the Automobile Club of Southern California and other large corporations are moving thousands of jobs to Nevada, Utah, Texas and Tennessee. Even the entertainment business is moving operations (production/filming) out of the state. In total, over 140 companies have left the state. California now has 12.6% unemployment, third highest in the country. 6. More people are leaving California than are coming in. And the people coming in have, on average, 20% less income than those leaving resulting in an ever-shrinking tax base.
Agree. I've lived in NJ for over 30 years now, and love the place. What I find disgusting in these type of stories is their one-sidedness and biased perspective. A drug addict is lying down, asking/begging/yelling/threatening for his next fix. Terrible situation, we all feel for the guy. What to do? Give him some more of his "medicine"? Enslave him more to what got him there in the first place? Is that your solution? That's what our Dems are proposing... more tax and spend fixes all over the place, especially to their friendly groups. Christie sees a bigger picture: we are one of the heaviest taxed states in the country, and also one with some of the most corrupt cities in the country (eg, Newark) and one where some of the unions (eg, teachers) have been used to running the place. What happens if taxes keep going up? What does it take for many of those millionnaires to relocate to NY or Connecticut? Not much, I tell you. Will they still employ others or hire more? Doubtful. Here, Mr Smith, you've got your state-provided service but, unfortunately, we don't have a job for you or your children... When are the liberals going to learn that simple truth? Need more spending money? Tax and distribute to your buddies - that has been the Dem warcry for decades. Where does that stop? Who's going to make the hard decisions to make it happen? That's why we put Christie there, and I'm sure the liberals hate him... remember the untion boss who was praying for his death? Funny, but maybe not, not to many of us here. As I said - disgusting political warfare, which in itself validates the governor's efforts, funny about that. So, let Christie save this beautiful state, it's a worthwhile endeavor.
Exactly. The majority put him in place because it was fed up. I left NJ because of the property taxes. Fucking absurd taxes I had to pay there. And for what??