Monday, October 1, 2007

An Imperfect Storm

How much more will you be asked to spend? State lawmakers and assorted Trenton insiders are whispering about concerns of tough times ahead and they may have good reason. Consider the following; If Governor Jon Corzine’s still secret monetization scheme amounts to a cash-grab in the form of borrowing against future toll increases, commuters will feel the pain.

Talk of a gas tax hike in Trenton is picking up steam, but if the price of oil per barrel heads north as it typically does, New Jerseyans could be paying a new, higher tax on top of new, higher prices at the pump. If voters decide to dedicate the full one-penny of last year’s sales tax increase to property tax relief it would raise roughly $1.3 billion, however New Jersey is using $2.2 billion this year to give the majority of homeowners a 20% property tax rebate. Using simple math, you can see Treasury will be about $900 million short as the Corzine administration struggles to provide the same relief next year.

Add on top of this the fact that the budget deficit for next year is estimated to be approximately $2 billion and you’ll begin to get the picture. The ongoing housing market slump has Wall Streeters fearing a real recession so, you’ve got the imperfect storm…..the possibility of new and higher taxes at a time when many people may find themselves with a lot less disposal income. Any thoughts?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Blog!

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Politians in NJ are completely out of control. We need to get the feds in Trenton to clean things up. Right now they are our only hope. we can no longer afford to sit back and let our elected officials control the gov't. they are corupt and they could care less about the general public. What in the world are they doing with the billions in taxes that us residents pay? like the saying goes "Show me the money"! Enough is Enough! Get rid of them all!

Anonymous said...

What is going on here???? Sandi states that south jersey/ deptford had issues!!!!Check us out PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Just a localGirl who actually cares.....Hi Jersey Guys....wathcin out forme b/c i run the area for my health, thanks once again to ALLL at Millenium....ESP> the JERSEY GUYS>>>THEY ALL ROCK ON!!!!SANDI DOE,DC

Anonymous said...

THNKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!U GUYS CARE!!!AT 101.5 local at SJ>>>CHERRY HILL>>>STEPH>>>

Anonymous said...

There should be a requirement that to post on this blog you must attain at least 4th grade proficiency in spelling and grammar.

Anonymous said...

I'll bet that if I look at the state budget, I could come up with $900 million dollars to cut.

That's right my dear crooks in Trenton, if you can't do your job right, you're not getting a bonus.

By the way, your law firm doesn't get the contracts anymore, because the law firm across the street, who's owner is not a senator, does the job at half the price.

Anonymous said...

There is no mystery and, in fact, it is quite easy to understand. All state employee compensation is approximately $25 billion of the current $33 billion annual budget. Guaranteed raises and increases in health coverage and pensions add 5 to 10% guaranteed to the budget "requirements" every year. That is why the budget always starts out $2-3 billion in the hole, and it always will. Simple stuff - Really.
JD

eastwood said...

Work harder,work longer. Public employees want to make sure your paying your share to make their lives as comfortable as possible.65 cents of every tax dollar collected goes to salares and life time benefits.New jersey should just shut up and pay it,s bills.There could be money for everything but they give it away to GREEDY UNIONS and make us pay for it.

Anonymous said...

What are they doing with the current $33 Billion that they currently collect? How much does it take to run this state? Yet they keep saying that they need more money. How about them paying for these programs out of their own pocket, if they are so worthwhile?