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Can you not understand that some teachers are paying for medical insurance. My sister & her husband pay 4% of their salary as it stands. Theirs is not the only district that requires teachers to pay.
Christie said that the teachers are not paying, but while that might be right in some districts, it is not correct for all. He has demonized unionized public employees & that is not right. He threw out the first insult & that was wrong. A union person in Bergen county did a tasteless & tacky "joke". That as not right either.
my question is...once this dies down, who is going to be the next demonized group? watch out, it may just be you (generic you). but like the saying goes "then they came for me, and there was noone left to speak up".
so instead he cuts aid and we end up paying more taxes.
re: the bolded. and what would that be? i can tell you right now it costs the NJ taxpayer about $25K a year to educate my 2 children. I don't pay $25K a year in property taxes. I guess I'm not paying my fair share. are you?
also, I work full time, I pay federal, state, sales taxes (and a WHOLE LOT of them) yet don't have healthcare, vacation pay, sick pay or a retirement plan through my job. is that fair? what do you propose we do for *me*? or do we only set our sights on bringing those who *have* down instead of lifting others up?
this is indeed one slippery slope.
Well we don't have to pay more taxes, we can cut sevices on the local level.
I am sorry I can't lift you up, only you can lift you up.
my question is...once this dies down, who is going to be the next demonized group? watch out, it may just be you (generic you). but like the saying goes "then they came for me, and there was noone left to speak up".
I really don't think teachers are being demonized (no one is wishing death on teachers). They are asked to accept a salary freeze and contribute to their health insurance and they balk. They are being unreasonable and being viewed as such. The rest of us are taking cuts or getting fired. I don't think too many people sympathize with them.
shorebaby- I heard the author of the study interviewed. He stated the media was distorting what he wrote.
I've taken the time to review the wealth migration studies themselves (not just media summaries thereof).
It isn't really true that it's just old people who are moving out. The median age of people moving out I think was somewhere in the 40s and maybe a couple of years different to that of those moving in.
Immigration flow for different states is generally bi-directional: for example, there are large numbers of people who move from FL or PA or VA or NC to NJ. However, there is a steady net outflow, and those going out have more income and accumulated wealth than those going in.
so instead he cuts aid and we end up paying more RE taxes. i certainly hope my state taxes go down! oh, that's right, they won't, I don't make $400K.
re: the bolded. and what would that be? i can tell you right now it costs the NJ taxpayer about $25K a year to educate my 2 children. I don't pay $25K a year in property taxes. I guess I'm not paying my fair share. are you?
also, I work full time, I pay federal, state, sales taxes (and a WHOLE LOT of them) yet don't have healthcare, vacation pay, sick pay or a retirement plan through my job. is that fair? what do you propose we do for *me*? or do we only set our sights on bringing those who *have* down instead of lifting others up?
this is indeed one slippery slope.
You're not going to "lift" up anyone by taxing the private sector to the curb.
services are being cut and taxes are still going up.
i can only lift me up, but you can bring me down.
The cause of high taxes is high spending. The only way property taxes will get under control is if/when towns cut their spending. Christie can't do much about this besides giving the towns the tools to constrain their spending (e.g. pushing back against some of the very union friendly labor laws). Even that's not going to fix everything overnight.
Of course you can try to move the tax base towards income tax (higher income tax / low property tax) but that leads to less efficient spending, and more cyclic revenues (e.g. incomes are dependent on the economy, so during a slump you have a revenue problem and your spending goes up because social services are more heavily loaded). In NJ, even though property taxes are high, income taxes aren't all that low.
I hate paying taxes like everyone else. I hate paying the high price of gasoline and the high price of food too but if I want those things I need to pay for it. I hate the teacher bashing and the half truths Christie is telling. Do you see Christie giving anything back to pay his fair share, or how about our legislature are they taking a pay freeze and maybe the rich since things are much easier for them maybe they could just pay for one year a little something and give back like the teachers are asked to do because others have it harder. I'm willing to pay my taxes and not resent the teachers for what they have as people on this forum bash them for having it so good (become a teacher) because there are a heck of a lot more people who have it better than me.
Teachers aren't getting a free ride... they pay their fair share... there contracts are negotiated by the board of ed and voted on by the people in their town. Not every teacher gets a 4% raise not every teacher does not pay for their health care. That's what Christie tells you. It is negotiated teachers will take less of a raise to to pay less on their health care. Now I'll ask you since teachers sign a contract for 3 years those whose contracts are being negotiated now are more then likely having to either get 0% this year and lets say for the next two years they accept a 1% raise. Suppose next year the economy is bad yet and the teacher is gettiing 0% but the following year things begin to boom and you get your 4% raise are you all going say yeah lets open those teachers contracts and change that 1% to 4%. Are you going to feel sorry for the teachers who will only be gettin 1% for two years. No I doubt it. The teachers will have to wait the 3 years till their contracts are up. But yet you think it is fair they open their contracts now and take 0%.
There is more to it then Christie tells you. His intentions are good he wants to balance the budget but the way he is going about it is just pitting people against each other. Look at the rage against teachers on this board. That is why I'm willing to pay my taxes to teachers. They work and negotiate their salary just like everyone else. There are lot's of people who make more and have more than me. There are lot's of people with the same degree as teachers who have it better then them.. we chose our careers.
my question is...once this dies down, who is going to be the next demonized group? watch out, it may just be you (generic you). but like the saying goes "then they came for me, and there was noone left to speak up".
Again, this goes to the point I was making before. Nobody else "is next", because private sector workers work in a free market. Why would I spend time demonizing the 7/11 owner? If I dont like his prices, I will go to Quick Mart. If I dont like McDonalds prices, I will go to Burger King. If it is true that teachers are demonized, it is only because the public is frustrated by being forced to pay more than they think they should. Much of this is due to a previous governor who was in bed (literally) with the unions, and several governors before him that did not fight for us citizens at the "bargaining" table.
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