April 10, 2009
 | NUMBERS MAKE IT CLEAR: |
While testifying before the Assembly Budget Committee, State Treasurer David Rousseau was asked the direct question: "Are New Jerseyans overtaxed?" He responded with a simple one-word answer — "No." When Gov. Corzine was asked whether he agreed with that response, he declined to directly answer. He said he wouldn't have answered that way and pointed out that our gasoline tax was lower than other states.
In case the governor and his treasurer do not know the correct answer to this question, I will cite some data from the federal nonpartisan Tax Foundation's 2009 Facts & Figures — How Does Your State Compare? New Jersey had the highest combined state and local property tax collections per capita in fiscal year 2006 — the latest data available. New Jersey also ranked first with the highest state and local tax burden as a percentage of income for fiscal year 2008.
New Jersey lost its top ranking in terms of state and local tax burden per capita in fiscal year 2008 — improving to second worst in the country (I 1/8m sure recent tax increases have moved us up to number one here as well). New Jersey ranked the worst in the Property Tax Index for 2009, a measure of how each state's tax laws affect economic performance. In terms of the 2009 Individual Income Tax Index, which also measures the affect on economic performance, our state ranked 48th.
If the foregoing data does not clearly indicate New Jersey residents are overtaxed, I shudder to think how high Gov. Corzine and Treasurer Rousseau would raise taxes before they felt people were overtaxed and began to cut spending.
As former Treasurer John McCormack said as he left office, "We don't have a revenue problem in New Jersey, we have a spending problem."
