"Shared Sacrifice" vs Millionaires Tax

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has insisted time and again that his policies result in "shared sacrifice". The latest information from the Office of Legislative Services seems to contradict this.

The decline in income tax revenue between 2007 and 2009 was disproportionately at the high end. In other words, the wealthiest New Jersey residents paid $1.7 billion less that the previous period.

And our governor wants to continue this?

Our governor cut back schools and teachers, fire fighters and police, medical benefits for many civil service negotiated contracts, charity care for hospitals, tax rebates and senior citizen tax refunds, all in order to maintain his tax cuts for the wealthy.

Is this ethical?

According to the OLS report of the week of May 13, 2011, $1.3 billion was a decline in "tax liability" for incomes over that one million mark.

Get this: People with incomes less than $500,000 accounted for a mere $228 million of the decline. This dramatically illustrates New Jersey's top heavy income tax revenue and what happens when millionaires are relieved of tax liability.

Continued tax subsidy and relief for our states' millionaires, as campaigned by Governor Christie, perpetuate this lopsided contribution from our middle and low income residents.

Case in point is the $175 million dollar tax credit awarded to Xanadu. This financially troubled and probably worthless piece of real estate was propped up with tax payer monies because the Governor seemed to think that there was a need for "high end" retail or entertainment in that area of the Meadowlands.

Personally, I think Xanadu is ugly, worthless, and it makes my skin crawl to think that every hundred dollar bill snagged by this construction jumble is taking something priceless from a senior citizen.

Every dollar going to Xanadu is essentially diverted from being used for Medicaid glasses for a senior, prescription meds for a senior, dental fillings for a Medicaid child, transportation for a wheelchair bound adult who needs to go to a doctor or would just like to visit a library. Every dollar spent on this foolishness could be used to offset the expense of meals for the homebound, home care for recently hospitalized persons, shelter for the homeless....

These "millionaire taxes" are objectionable for our governor's purposes because he is creating an environment he thinks will protect his supporters and fund raisers.

We are thinking about the rest of us.

New Jersey State Senator Shirley Turner has introduced a resolution to place a tax of 10.75 percent on persons whose annual income is over one million dollars. This bill does not affect anyone under that one million limit. Previous bills included adjusted incomes from $400,000 up to one million, but that is not the case here. If you would like to see it on the ballot this fall, please call her office at 609-530-3277 and give her your support.

Senator Turner's bill could energize New Jersey's economy by letting the largest part of the population distribute monies throughout segments where it is needed the most. Instead of a wealthy investor buying a huge yacht, you would see average Americans paying to have their lawns mowed. designing and building a new garage or kitchen. This would put monies in the middle sector of the economy immediately, instead of waiting for the "trickle down theory" to work.

Needless to say, the Governor would like to kill the bill.

Another thing. I am so tired of people telling me so earnestly, "Millionaires are leaving New Jersey." Horse puckey.

According to an editorial in the Trenton Times (April 4, 2011), Charles Varner and Cristobal Young of Stanford found that the average migration of millionaires from 2000 to 2007 was only 459. The newly wealthy increased at this time by 43 percent to about 47,000 in 2006.

Their conclusion was amazing: New Jersey makes millionaires, not exports.

We are looking at smoke and mirrors here folks.

Governor Christie wants to hide our state's momentum and take the credit for growth by crediting his tax subsidy efforts as the reason for blossoming numbers of wealthy residents.

In the meantime, all of us on fixed income are looking at those "Peanut Butter and Jelly Thursdays"....

Seniors Rock.