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Did New Jersey Signal the Start of a Property Tax Rebellion?
By JONATHAN
BERR Posted 4:35 PM 04/21/10 Economy, Taxes

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New Jersey is one of a handful of states where voters are allowed to
approve school budgets. For years, Garden State residents have criticized these
elections as expensive and pointless since the results were widely ignored and
the spending plans usually passed anyway. That perception has now changed
dramatically, and now, policymakers in other states had better pay
attention.

According to the Newark
Star-Ledger, record numbers of New Jerseyans last night voiced their
anger at their state's property taxes, which are among the highest in the U.S.,
and voted down 260 of 479 school budgets across 19 counties. This is the first
time since 1976 that more than 50% of the education spending plans failed to
pass. My local school district in South Jersey held taxes flat. Voters approved
the spending plan.

"Misleading
Oversimplification"

Believe it or not, people were also
following the advice of Governor Chris Christie, who called on voters to reject
spending plans in districts that didn't freeze wages for teachers for one year.
The New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, has
emerged as the Republican governor's biggest foe, vowing to fight his plans to
slash state aid to education by $820 million. Neither Christie's office nor the
NJEA were immediately available for comment. The bitterness of the debate,
though, has surprised many political observers.

"I don't think that any
of this was unexpected, given the climate and the economy," says Jon Shure, who
served as press secretary to Democratic Governor Jim Florio and now works at the
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

"You don't usually see the
politics of rage from political leaders in New Jersey," Shure notes. "It
suggests that the fiscal problems New Jersey faces are the result of teachers
and other public employees. It's a misleading
oversimplification."

School Funding Increasingly
Political

Though the fight in New Jersey has taken on some
colorful twists, the issues being raised are not unique as state budgets
continue to get squeezed by declining tax revenue. Education usually enjoys
bipartisan support in most state legislatures. The same cannot be said for
property taxes, which even during times of economic prosperity, are a lightening
rod.

New Jersey residents have a rare chance to voice their discontent at
the polls. Funding schools in the state and the rest of the country is becoming
increasingly political.

"This is not something like funding for the arts
or things like it, which tend not to be popular with some people," says Kail
Padgitt, an economist with the Taxpayer Foundation. Voters are "tired of the
spending that is going on."

Protest Groups
Mushroom

Record numbers of homeowners are protesting their
property tax assessments. Protest groups have formed in Missouri and Illinois,
while Michigan's highest tax court has 24,000 appeals pending, according to The
Wall Street Journal. Business is booming at Property Tax Protest, a Dallas
company that helps Texas residents battle local governments to lower their
assessments, says Jonathan Kutner, a senior property tax consultant.

Says
Kutner: "People are not waiting."

Tagged: chris
christie, new
jersey, property taxes, school
budgets, school funding

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Jonathan Berr
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Financial Writer and Media Columnist

Jonathan Berr is a former reporter with Bloomberg News whose
work has appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek and The
Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2000, he won the Gerald Loeb Award, one of the
most prestigious prizes in business journalism.
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COMMENTS ( 13 )

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Matted67

8:58AM Apr 23 2010

TFCrow
What will they do when all the people not on the
public pay roll move out of the state? Do like the do in Sudan stand by and wait
for the humanity grain truck to pull up. Your head is full of MSNBC mush spread
by the Regime

Reply Rate This
Comment

(0
RATINGS)

Matted67

8:53AM Apr 23 2010

The author of this article needs to call it for ******** is.
THE GREED OF THE PUBLIC TEACHERS UNION IS WAY OUT OF HAND. THe governor of the
state is merely trying to balance his states budget and that is part of his job
as an elected official.
These members in the teachers Union could give them
self a raise by stop paying their union dues and get out of the Labor extortion
racket. These idiots never look at the huge luxuries their union boss live in
and that is all dollars taken out of their checks. Obviously they have not read
up on their union mafia bosses indictments handed down this week for everything
from extotion to child prostituion and trafficking.
MY WHAT AN ORGANIZATION
THE TEACHERS OF NEW JERSEY ARE PROMOTIMING AND DONT THEY ALL LOVE IT THE THE
STATE RUN MEDIA IS NOT PICKING UP ON THIS CONNECTION!

Reply Rate This
Comment

(2
RATINGS)

SeanLean

7:50AM Apr 23 2010

“My advice to you all is to start drinking
heavily.”

--- Jim Belushi, Animal House, 1978

Reply Rate This
Comment

(0
RATINGS)

Gch8125

12:20PM Apr 22 2010

You, my good man, are an idiot! Obviously a liberal,
obviously get your news from those second rate stations like msnbc and cnn.
Chrsite is not only brave man, he is one of principles. What would you have him
do?...keep spending and never help the citizens of his state in hard times, very
selfish stance you are taking...you're just like unions..all for me! Every state
must cut spending, our national govt must cut spending, we should cut
entitlements, we need the unions to give back to when everyone else is
suffering. Teachers unions are not only degrading our kids education, they are
bleeding the states dry. I applaud Christie, he is rare because he is actually
doing what he said he would..bravo Christie!

Reply Rate This
Comment

(2
RATINGS)

DJGonsa

11:15AM Apr 22 2010

I lived in Calif many years ago and would never return
because of their stupid/insane property tax situation.Prop 13 was Ok when it
started in 1978,I believe as it reduced the amount of taxes the government could
collect. However today it is assinine . You can have two people living side by
side in $1.0 million dollar houses with one paying $12,500 in taxes and the
other paying perhaps only $5,000. The reason is if property changes hands or a
new house the taxes are set at 1.25% of market value. However if people have
owned their homes for many ,many years ther eis a limit on how much the taxes
can be increased each year which is far less than the house has appriciated in
value. Calif could solve all their financial problems and still be very
reasonable if everyone paid 1.00 % in property taxes.

Reply Rate This
Comment

(0
RATINGS)

DJGonsa

11:15AM Apr 22 2010

I lived in Calif many years ago and would never return
because of their stupid/insane property tax situation.Prop 13 was Ok when it
started in 1978,I believe as it reduced the amount of taxes the government could
collect. However today it is assinine . You can have two people living side by
side in $1.0 million dollar houses with one paying $12,500 in taxes and the
other paying perhaps only $5,000. The reason is if property changes hands or a
new house the taxes are set at 1.25% of market value. However if people have
owned their homes for many ,many years ther eis a limit on how much the taxes
can be increased each year which is far less than the house has appriciated in
value. Calif could solve all their financial problems and still be very
reasonable if everyone paid 1.00 % in property taxes.

Reply Rate This
Comment

(0
RATINGS)

SeanLean

10:54AM Apr 22 2010

Prop 13 in California successfully reduced insanely high
property taxes.

Similar efforts will work in other states, but it
***almost*** requires angry mobs with torches and ropes gathering outside the
state capital offices.

Until elected officials are truly AFRAID of their
constituents, they will continue to increase taxes and spend MUCH, MUCH, MUCH
more than they take in.

This applies to the idiots inside the Beltway in
Washington DC, too.

Reply Rate This
Comment

(1
RATINGS)

JMalta54

8:52PM Apr 21 2010

Just starting

Reply Rate This
Comment

(0
RATINGS)

HoustonFirstSDC

8:43PM Apr 21 2010

Nj is as good a place to start a rebelion as any place
else.
People are tired of paying higher taxes for everything.

Reply Rate This
Comment

(23
RATINGS)

SteamHead

8:02PM Apr 21 2010

tfcrow, you are a moron whom contributes nothing, i can tell,
you are easy to spot, dont worry, we the people will rid of crap like you and
your puppet master barry hussein chavez.

Reply Rate This
Comment

(22
RATINGS)

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