Chris Christie of New Jersey has done a remarkable job so far, but his biggest battles are still ahead of him. A key fight is whether the state will impose a cap on property taxes. As the Wall Street Journal opines, this reform has worked very well in Massachusetts and is critical to curtailiing the greed of government employee unions in the Garden State.
The Governor wants to cap annual property tax increases at 2.5%, on the model of the successful cap that Massachusetts imposed in 1980. Over the next 27 years, property taxes in the Bay State rose 22% compared to 68% nationwide and 102% in New Jersey. The cap is crucial to preventing local Garden State school districts, which are dominated by teachers unions, from raising taxes and thus defeating whatever spending restraint Mr. Christie can impose on Trenton. The unions know this, which is why they’ve spent some $7 million in TV ads portraying Mr. Christie as the scourge of police, firefighters and children. The Governor’s approval rating has held up well despite the onslaught, which may reflect that voters understand the state’s new fiscal reality. New Jersey’s property taxes and its overall state and local tax burden are the nation’s highest, and the state hasn’t created a single net new private job in a decade. Democrats who run the state legislature have counter-offered with a 2.9% cap, but with so many spending exceptions that it’s more fig leaf than cap. Their bill would allow lawmakers to raise property taxes above the cap to pay for pensions, health care and utility costs and, here’s the kicker, even in order to promote the health, safety or welfare of the municipality. …This showdown is worth watching because Mr. Christie has shown admirable political grit so far, and success in New Jersey would bolster the nerve of other reform governors. One temptation for Mr. Christie would be to settle for too little reform when his political capital is at its highest, which was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original mistake in California. …Mr. Christie’s best reform opportunity is now, and taxpayers everywhere should hope he succeeds.
Chris Chistie is NJ’s Savior. Privatize all public workers. Teachers, especially, should be minimum-wage temp workers with no benefits, and they could be replaced every couple of years instead of granting them raises. There is no reason that people who work 6 hours/day for only six months a year (school year is 180 days, right?) should get more than that. NJ’s taxes would plummet, which would increase disposable income which would stimulate the local economy. Police and fire are a bit different, but they’re next. Toll collectors making north of $30/hr should be sent into early retirement so that minimum wage can be paid to their replacements. In fact, except for the Governor and his staff, just about all government workers should be paid minimum wage with no benefits. But we might have to repeal the recent rule that government workers live in NJ since at minimum wage, that might be impossible for some. Hrmm. Another option is privatize (e.g., Halliburton, Parsons, etc.) it all. At least then the transparency of public contracts is gone and they’ll be able to conceal the waste better.
Christie has not gone far enough with the blood-sucking teachers, who are glorified babysitters. Have you seen them in action? Ask your local school for a tour and you’ll see what I mean. Or substitute teach in an urban district for a couple of days. This is why everyone wanted to be a teacher – until Chris came to town!
God Bless Chris Christie!
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