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When former Democratic Governor Jim Florio was defeated by Republican Former Governor Christie Whitman in 1993, NJ had the the 2nd highest property taxes in the nation, & the #1 highest Auto insurance in the nation. Whitman won the election due to the issue of HIGH TAXES in NJ.
Republican Governor Whitman took over from 1993 to 2001.
After 8 years as Governor, Whitman left office with NJ now being the number 1 Highest Property Taxes in the nation, & still the Number one Auto Insurance in the nation.
Democrat Jim McGreevey very nearly defeated her in 1997 ( losing by only 1%) by hitting her on NJ having the HIGHEST Property taxes & HIGHEST Auto Insurance in the country.
Two more Governors later( after Di Francesco), our state still has the highest property taxes & Auto Insurance in the nation.
8 years of having a Republican Governor, 8 years of having a Democratic Governor, PLUS 8 years of a Republican controlled state legislature , and 8 years of a Democratic controlled chamber....
WE ARE STILL IN THE SAME BOAT !!!!
The only difference was before- WE HAD A BOOMING NATIONAL ECONOMY! It made up for the High Cost of Living in NJ. Jobs were abundant, NJ enjoyed the Highest Median Income in the entire nation.
Today, our entire National Economy is in the worse shape since the Great Depression. Our National Economy is in unchartered Territory. No Expert knows when or how long this will last. Every single state was & is in a recession.
We've had Two Clinton terms, Two Bush terms, a 9 month Obama- BUT WE HAVE ONE SAME VARIABLE- NEW JERSEY PROPERTY & AUTO are sky high .
I'm afraid Christie will be almost likely be no different than Whitman. We were # 2 when she came in, she left us at # 1 in property taxes. Her high taxes resulted in the rise of McGreevey as the new Governor. Now Christie will replace Corzine for again the same issues.
In 4 years under Chris Christie, I'll bet my entire paycheck that NJ will still be the highest property tax, highest auto insurance in 2013.
Bottom line- these NJ Republicans & Democrats just keep promising for the sake of winning !
You fail to realize that it's not a matter of whether there's a democrat or a republican in governor's chair- you'll continue to have the highest property taxes in the nation until you do something about the home-rule system and the NJEA. Since that'll never happen, you may as well get used to your taxes being what they are.
You fail to realize that it's not a matter of whether there's a democrat or a republican in governor's chair- you'll continue to have the highest property taxes in the nation until you do something about the home-rule system and the NJEA. Since that'll never happen, you may as well get used to your taxes being what they are.
No, we need a new state constitution, which -requires- that schools be funded by property taxes.
Christie says he'll lower taxes, but he can't do anything about property taxes, because they don't fall under the purview of the governor -- they're based on individual municipal budgets, and the municipality's tax rate is then struck by the county boards of taxation.
And if he lowers state aid to cities in order to lower state taxes, the municipalities will have to -raise- taxes to make up for the lost revenue sharing.
This one point is probably the hardest to understand or be heard. I'm glad some are bringing this out in the open.
Let's make this clear to many of our fellow Jerseyans.
One Tuesday night, regardless if a Democrat retains the Governorship or a Republican wins & takes over- YOUR PROPERTY TAXES WILL CONTINUE TO RISE !!!
I keep on hearing & reading many people "expecting" a Christopher Christie win will create a New Day in NJ's Number 1 ranking as America's highest Property taxes in the country.
I'm very sorry to disappoint my fellow Republicans ( Yes, I am voting for Chris Christie tomorrow but for other reasons than expecting Property Taxes to go down)
There are TWO Major elements in place here that is causing this out of control Property Tax rise. And NONE OF THEM has VERY LITTLE to do with the Governorship.
I am about to go into a client meeting. I will continue posting again around noon.
I'm just glad some people are pointing this out.
I am voting for Christie & am no fan of Corzine.
But so many here jump on the bandwagon based on false propaganda such as NJ's is failing apart because of this Jon Corzine.
Trust me, with the national & state economy right now, Please do not expect too much from our new Governor Christopher Christie. We could have had Republican Governor Christie Whitman for the last 16 years or Republican Bret Schundler as Governor for the last 8 years- and NJ would still be in the predicament that we are in.
I'm pulling for Christie but not for the false expectations that so many here have.
Branding Corzine a "Liberal" in order to blame him for the last two decades of rising Property taxes in plain politics & ignorance.
You fail to realize that it's not a matter of whether there's a democrat or a republican in governor's chair- you'll continue to have the highest property taxes in the nation until you do something about the home-rule system and the NJEA. Since that'll never happen, you may as well get used to your taxes being what they are.
Agree. NJ needs to cut costs in the state government, combine all the little fifedom's services, not let the unions and especially NJEA determine the rules. Constant bandads are not going to fix the problems. Last I heard the state pension was $58B short. No matter what, that will have to be paid sometime. Where will the money come from? Taxpayers as usual.
Thanks for reciting the history..some people on this forum don't always pay attention to the history.
Gov. Whitman was the "brilliant" proponent of reducing taxes (state) and paseed on the burden - school taxes which when State treasury contributed partially, evened the burden of school taxes on communities - to the towns and townships. That is why the property taxes since then are so high -
It does not reflect well on NJans that they were duped into thinking that the gov. CTW was reducing taxes when actually she was about to slide the major burden - school taxes - very unevenly to the municipalities.
But under the Republican mantra of reduce taxes - in vogue in many voters minds - she got elected, implemented her disastrous policy and got re-elected before NJans found out that they are in deep doo doo vis-a-vis the property taxes.
Sleight of hand on a large scale is what she did. But NJans thought she was doing by cutting spending not pushing spending on to the communities.
You fail to realize that it's not a matter of whether there's a democrat or a republican in governor's chair- you'll continue to have the highest property taxes in the nation until you do something about the home-rule system and the NJEA. Since that'll never happen, you may as well get used to your taxes being what they are.
Thank you, you are one of the few here that understands what home rule does for our property taxes.
When former Democratic Governor Jim Florio was defeated by Republican Former Governor Christie Whitman in 1993, NJ had the the 2nd highest property taxes in the nation, & the #1 highest Auto insurance in the nation. Whitman won the election due to the issue of HIGH TAXES in NJ.
Republican Governor Whitman took over from 1993 to 2001.
After 8 years as Governor, Whitman left office with NJ now being the number 1 Highest Property Taxes in the nation, & still the Number one Auto Insurance in the nation.
Democrat Jim McGreevey very nearly defeated her in 1997 ( losing by only 1%) by hitting her on NJ having the HIGHEST Property taxes & HIGHEST Auto Insurance in the country.
Two more Governors later( after Di Francesco), our state still has the highest property taxes & Auto Insurance in the nation.
8 years of having a Republican Governor, 8 years of having a Democratic Governor, PLUS 8 years of a Republican controlled state legislature , and 8 years of a Democratic controlled chamber....
WE ARE STILL IN THE SAME BOAT !!!!
The only difference was before- WE HAD A BOOMING NATIONAL ECONOMY! It made up for the High Cost of Living in NJ. Jobs were abundant, NJ enjoyed the Highest Median Income in the entire nation.
Today, our entire National Economy is in the worse shape since the Great Depression. Our National Economy is in unchartered Territory. No Expert knows when or how long this will last. Every single state was & is in a recession.
We've had Two Clinton terms, Two Bush terms, a 9 month Obama- BUT WE HAVE ONE SAME VARIABLE- NEW JERSEY PROPERTY & AUTO are sky high .
I'm afraid Christie will be almost likely be no different than Whitman. We were # 2 when she came in, she left us at # 1 in property taxes. Her high taxes resulted in the rise of McGreevey as the new Governor. Now Christie will replace Corzine for again the same issues.
In 4 years under Chris Christie, I'll bet my entire paycheck that NJ will still be the highest property tax, highest auto insurance in 2013.
Bottom line- these NJ Republicans & Democrats just keep promising for the sake of winning !
Watching these political ads for the last 2 months I have been wondering about this. glad someone else pointed it out. it's ridiculous that home owning adults don't know where their property tax money goes and it's equally as ridiculous that they think the governor can do something about it.
New Jersey is always top 5 in the country for public schools. You might not want to mess with that too much.
OTOH, you can't have a state that's basically one giant, low-density suburb with most of the housing on 1/4 acre or 1/2 acre lots, have every part of the state be an incorporated town with municipal sewer, water, police, fire, schools, and streets departments, and have canadian style social services and a european style transit network and expect to have low taxes.
Go to any part of the country with a similar set-up (Long Island, Massachusetts, San Francisco/Bay Area, LA/Orange County) and everyone freaks out about their property taxes.
When you have city-style services without the density of ratables to comfortably support those services, everybody pays more.
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