To the Editor:
According to a recent article in “The Wall Street Journal,” from 2001 to 2008 (the McGreevey-Corzine years), New Jersey lost a net 25,000 private-sector jobs. During the same period, the public sector grew by 65,000. In other words, a decreasing number of privately employed taxpayers are supporting an endlessly expanding number of people who feed at the public trough.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the National Tax Foundation reports that New Jersey had the highest local and state tax burden in the country last year, and that is was the least business-friendly state in the country.
Much has been made of Governor Corzine’s $4 billion reduction in the 2010 state budget. All this decrease really means is that the 2009 budget and probably his previous budgets were loaded with pork. The difference this year is that Mr. Corzine is facing the voters in November. Now he would like us to believe that he is a fiscally responsible leader.
In Bayonne, despite enormously high property taxes, our government routinely spends far more than the total revenue raised through regular recurring sources. Last year’s deficit was in the neighborhood of $27 million. The budget was “balanced” by funds provided by the Local Redevelopment Authority. However, at some point, this source will run dry. Without Draconian spending reductions, property owners will, inevitably, face enormous tax increases.
RICHARD JOSEFOWICZ