TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A pre-emptive strike is being launched against the
possibility of additional cuts to New Jersey's property tax rebates.
AARP New Jersey plans to visit the Statehouse Monday to decry talk of more
cuts to the state-funded rebates that help homeowners combat the state's high
property taxes, which average $6,800 per homeowner and are twice the national
average.
"There are fundamental flaws in the state's property tax system, and until
those are resolved we cannot falsely balance the budget on the backs of the
people struggling to pay their property taxes," said Marilyn Askin of AARP New
Jersey.
Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine has proposed eliminating rebates for
households earning more than $150,000 to help slash spending amid budget
troubles.
Under his proposal, households earning up to $100,000 would still get
rebates averaging $1,115, while those making between $100,000 and $150,000 would
get $665 after getting $960 last year. Renter rebates would drop from as much as
$350 to $80, while senior and disabled citizens would still receive $1,266.
Senate President Richard J. Codey has suggested the state should consider
eliminating rebates for households earning more than $100,000 as they seek
alternatives to some of Corzine's $2.7 billion in proposed cuts.
Corzine and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., D-Camden, haven't endorsed
that idea.
"The governor has been very clear on this issue -- the government should
take the hits, not the taxpayers," Corzine spokesman Jim Gardner said.
Roberts spokesman Derek Roseman said the speaker "feels that property tax
relief should be one of the very last items government looks to cut in this
budget, though he respects lawmakers who are coming to the table with ideas for
spending cuts."
AARP New Jersey spokesman Douglas Johnston said rebates, as currently
proposed, would not compensate for increases in property taxes, inflation and
costs such as gas, utilities and food, or for proposed new and increased
co-payments for Medicaid and a senior citizen drug program.
"It's disturbing for us to hear support for cutting or eliminating property
tax rebates, because those rebates are an absolutely important bandage on the
wound that is property taxes in the state of New Jersey," Johnston said.
Corzine, speaking on CNBC Monday, agreed New Jersey's budget troubles rank
among the nation's worst.
"We've had about 20 years of fiscal mismanagement," Corzine said. "We got
ourselves in a bad structural place and you throw in a recession."
He continued defending state plans to give a California-based stem cell
research company $589,000 in state grants to create 12 new jobs in the next
decade. Some have criticized the move as the state weighs budget cuts.
"We ought to invest in our kids and we ought to invest in our research
universities and we ought to invest in the things that will lay an economic
future for our folks," Corzine said.
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