NJ is reaping what it sowed by electing Christie: Massive cuts in vital programs

[cali]

TRENTON -- Calling New Jersey on "the edge of bankruptcy," Gov. Chris Christie today declared a fiscal emergency, seizing broad powers to freeze aid to more than 500 school districts and cut from higher education, hospitals and the Public Advocate.

"New Jersey has been steaming toward financial disaster for years," the Republican governor said in a speech to both houses of the Legislature. "The people elected us to end the talk and to act decisively. Today is the day for the complaining to end and for statesmanship to begin."

Along with eliminating programs "that sounded good in theory but failed in practice" across state departments, Christie is cutting $475 million in aid to school districts, $62 million in aid to colleges and $12 million to hospital charity care. He is pulling all funding from the department of Public Advocate, a longtime Republican target, and folding its functions into other parts of government. He is cutting state subsidies for NJ Transit, a move Christie said could lead to higher fares or reduced services but would force the agency to become "more efficient and effective."

Schools and colleges will be forced to spend their surpluses in place of the state aid, Christie said. His plan is an expanded version of one proposed by Corzine after he lost re-election but before he left office. Corzine said it would have required legislative approval to target only districts with an "excess surplus," but Christie said he can freeze the funds unilaterally.

The cuts -- which do not include municipal aid or unpaid furloughs of state workers -- are aimed at resolving a $2.2 billion deficit in the current budget created by falling revenue and increased costs for various programs. Corzine enacted some cuts before Christie took over. Christie says he was left with a $1.3 billion deficit.

“I take no joy in having to make these decisions. I know these judgments will affect fellow New Jerseyans and will hurt," Christie said. "This is not a happy moment. However, what choices do we have left?"

Democrats who control both houses of the Legislature immediately balked at Christie's move to unilaterally freeze school aid. They said school aid is directly tied to property taxes, and excess surplus should be returned to residents as property tax relief.

<snip>

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/chris_christie_declares_state.html

[Joanne98]

1. He could have cut the police state and prison budget.

[Winterblues]

13. He could have raised taxes on the wealthy as well.

He is Governing as a Regressive Governor instead of Progressive and that hurts the middle and lower class very much..

[Beetwasher]

2. Fucking Douchebag

:mad:

Hopefully a one term douchebag.

[tabbycat31]

25. he'll definitely be one term

especially if property taxes go up. Plus the Democrats have a rockstar waiting in the wings (barring scandal). And I prefer lardass to douchebag although both terms fit the bastard.

[deacon]

34. It's like the Massachusuckers that put brown in. Sending a wolf into the henhouse. Idiots. n/t

[earthside]

3. What is the alternative?

Not being in New Jersey ...

If the state does not have the revenue, what else can be done but cut programs?

I'm just asking?

Has it been proposed to raise the income tax on wealthy New Jersians

[NoNothing]

10. There are wealthy New Jersians? j/k

[karynnj]

24. NJ has at leats two counties that always end upin the 10 wealthiest in the nation

NJ is always in the top five wealthiest states - http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104652.html

Check out the house prices in Christie's home town of Mendham. http://www.homes.com/Real_Estate/NJ/City/MENDHAM/

[old mark]

27. Certainly! NJ has a "horse country" with huge houses on large estates with -

oddly- horses. Hunterdon County is one such.
There are quite a few very exclusive shore areas as well and many more that I am not aware of, I am sure.


mark

[LiberalEsto]

4. Rethug Gov. Whitman made the mess

When she was NJ's governor, she was spending money the state didn't have, and dipped into employee pensions. The problems she created persist to this day.

I notice this new repuke governor is cutting the things that help the average person, including the state's Public Advocate office, education and health. Typical.

Heaven forbid that a repuke might cut tax subsidies to big business.

[stopbush]

18. Whitman's biggest crime was that she didn't pay into the state employee

retirement funds to the tune of $22-billion. Those payments were mandated by law, but she took that money and used it elsewhere to make her budgets look balanced.

At the same time, she gave NJ homeowners a tax break that amounted to $900 a home. By the end of her term, taxes had been raised enough to wipe out that $900. When Jim McGreevy took office, he discovered her $22-billion trick and had to face the music.

Of course, the Rs still consider Whitman a successful, tax-cuttin' maverick, while McGreevy is that evil, gay guy who had something to do with a $22-billion deficit.

[Ozymanithrax]

5. I thnk people should ge what they voted for...

If they don't like it, they should learn.

Unfortunately, the learning part doesn't happen all that often.

[SnakeEyes]

6. This is quickly becoming the trend...

regardless of whether the governor is an R or a D. Not much else they can do if they want to stay in office. If they raise taxes on the rich then the rich leave the state and revenue actually declines. Taxing the rich has to be done at the federal level with that money given to the states. You can't escape the federal government unless you leave the country.

[Captain Hilts]

14. That's really true. Sad, but true. nt

[alstephenson]

21. "If they raise taxes on the rich then the rich leave the state"...

Is that REALLY the case? Rich people would sell their homes, pack up their shit and move to another state? Really??? That's what they said about Oregon - that the rich and the businesses would move if taxes were raised. Well, the voters voted and they will be implementing a small increase in taxes for the rich and for businesses. Apparently Oregonians value education and services. It will be interesting to see what happens. Personally I think that "the rich will flee" meme is just another right wing talking point.

[cascadiance]

23. Yup, you have a case study in Oregon to follow to see if this *myth* is true or not!

How many employers are going to "leave" Oregon now that they've raised taxes on corporations!

[Progressive_In_NC]

26. It happened in Maryland, 1/3 of the millionaires up and left or lowered their income to avoid it....

That's a lot of lost income:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2009-05-14/news/0905130138_1_higher-tax-bracket-individual-income-franchot

snip:


But as the state comptroller's office sifts through this year's returns, it is finding that the number of Marylanders with more than $1 million in taxable income who filed by the end of April has fallen by one-third, to about 2,000. Taxes collected from those returns as of last month have declined by roughly $100 million.

[SnakeEyes]

28. Has happened in CA/NY...

Will be interesting to see if that happens elsewhere. This is a modest increase in a place that doesnt have as high of taxes as CA/NY/NJ

[stopbush]

22. Are you serious? The rich leave the state because taxes are too high?

Let me ask you: where do they move? Don't they move to another state and live in another upscale area?

Who buys their mansion that they're selling when they leave a state because of high taxes? A poor person? A middle class person? No, I think the home gets sold to another rich person. And that means that the new rich homeowner has to pay the same taxes as did the old rich property owner who sold him the home.

If taxing the rich more progressively at the state level is becoming the trend - as you say - then what would be the point in up and moving to another state in the first place?

[SnakeEyes]

30. They move to a state with lower taxes...

Florida comes to mind. Not all rich people live in mansions. Even so, property taxes is only part of government revenue. There is also the income taxes, sales taxes, and others that they are no longer paying in that state.

And "moving" isn't always even in the way we think of it. An example of this is Oprah and California. She still has her home out there but carefully counts how many days she stays there so she doesn't have to pay the taxes of a full time resident. The time she doesn't spend out there to avoid the taxes instead goes to another state.

The point of moving is that states are not taxing the rich more progressively in an even and timely fashion and some aren't even doing it at all. They go where it's cheaper.

That's why I said we need to use the federal government which they cannot escape unless they left the country or somehow shifted things outside the country.

[hfojvt]

29. a 1 or 2% increase at the top is not likely to make anybody leave

and it brings in a fair amount of revenue. Especially considering that studies show the rich only pay about 9% in state taxes compared to middle class people who pay 12.5% (at least in Kansas and Illinois that I have looked at).

Plus if they make their money in Kansas then they are gonna have to pay the taxes in Kansas even if they personally re-locate. Moving even a moderate sized business is also somewhat of a burden, and not likely to happen with anything less than 5% increase.

[gratuitous]

7. "What choices do we have left?"

After all, we can't ask the big winners of the society we've created contribute to its upkeep. So we'll cut every program that my fatcat benefactors are unlikely to need, and the rest of y'all can go hang. There's just no other choice. I hope the governor didn't forget to do the rueful head shake. Makes the whole thing go down so much easier.

[OHdem10]

8. Democrats have got to start getting out to vote in off year elections.

Elections matter. Christie ran on Conservative Economic
Fundamentalism. He won.

[Captain Hilts]

9. This is one of those really important articles that will sink like a rock on DU. nt

[cali]

12. hopefully not. I agree that this is important information.

[TreasonousBastard]

11. Joisey has some structural problems that aren't mentioned...

in the article.

For one thing, local towns and districts make the contracts with employees, but don't have to pay-- the state has always made up the difference. Not much incentive to save money there.

And, speaking of those districts, there are over 600 towns in New Jersey, almost all of them with highway departments, cops, schoools... When I lived there, at least two school districts didn't have schools, but had school boards. Whitman tried some consolidation, but the entrenched powers riled up the public with threats that civilization would collapse if Roselle and Roselle Park merged their schools.

And the larger cities? Newark used to publish its budget every year, and half of it was "Miscellaneous expenses." It was a standing joke, but nobody ever did anything about it. Maybe that had something to do with Sharpe James being mayor, a state senator and county Deomocratic leader. Jersey City had such a problem with its mayors not having enough juice to avoid being indicted that for a couple of years they didn't even bother to put the mayor's name on the signs. Elizabeth? Everyone was one step ahead of the sheriff but the county Democratic leader was also a state Senator and partner in the state's largest law firm. Camden? It's only purpose was to make Detroit look like a thriving metropolis.

New Jersey is really a terribly disfunctional state, but with its extraordinary wealth in such a small area, it was able to fake it and stumble its way through it all.

Until now.

[Captain Hilts]

15. Doesn't NJ have the 2nd highest number of millionaires in the country after Calif? nt

[TreasonousBastard]

19. It might. It's always vied with Connecticut for...

the state with the top per capita income.

Lots of Wall Street types moved there (Corzine, for one) and little companies like AT&T and ITT(very small now, but not then) A&P, Johnson&Johnson, Merck, Beneficial Finance (whatever happened to them...) and dozens of others are, or were, headquartered there.

For a state with a population around the size of New York City's, it's always been disproportionately wealthy.

That doesn't mean it doesn't have its poorer populations, of course, it's just better than most at hiding them.

[Skidmore]

32. Interesting.

They all want their millions but don't want to contribute to the amenities they want in the communities.

[Jim__]

16. Maybe someday people will learn.

But I'm not holding my breath.

[Bitwit1234]

17. Bet he didn't cut any benefits for all those corporations and the rich.

[Bitwit1234]

20. PS

I guess since he thought people were DAMN DUMB enough to elect a republican they would go along with what they get and their getting it.

Wonder where all that casino money goes, IF THEY ARE GOING BANKRUPT. Pity the states that don't have them.

[4_TN_TITANS]

31. Who here didn't see this coming?

These are just the type of conservative target cuts that will send the 'general welfare' of the people to hell in a handbasket.

[deacon]

33. This is the thing. This is the massive propaganda machine at work. Trash Obama. Trash Democrats.

Make Democrats fight among themselves where the visual to a misinformed public puts the scum that got us into this mess back into office.

Democrats unite - we ain't perfect but we ain't them!!!