Trenton keeps promising tax relief — and keeps breaking that promise

My father's family has been in New Jersey since the Revolutionary War. Both sides. Some lines arrived before it, some after, but safe to say the Johnsons have been planting roots in this state for a couple of centuries at least.

I know this because my dad was a genealogist as a hobby, long before Ancestry.com existed. He did it the hard way — courthouse records, church registers, family bibles. What he found was a lineage that runs deep into the soil of this state. My great-grandfather David Johnson was a bayman on Barnegat Bay. My grandfather was a construction engineer who built things across South Jersey and beyond. And my dad — he was Atlantic County through and through. Volunteer fireman. Rescue squad. Board of Education member. Football coach. The kind of man who gave more to his community than he ever asked from it.

A New Jersey that kept its word — and the moment it stopped

He never complained about property taxes. Not in the 60s. Not in the 70s. Not in the 80s. Because back then, New Jersey worked for the people who loved it. The deal was simple — you work hard, you raise your family, you stay. And most people did.

My dad passed away in 1991. He left at what turned out to be a pivotal moment. That same year, Governor Jim Florio was in the middle of what became the largest state tax increase in American history at the time — a $2.8 billion package that hit New Jersey families hard and fast. The backlash was so fierce it helped give birth to a grassroots taxpayer revolt called Hands Across New Jersey — and a little radio station in Ewing that rebranded as New Jersey 101.5 became the voice of that anger.  The station I'm proud to work for today was forged in that frustration. Think about that.

The taxes spiked in 1990. They never looked back.

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New Jersey property taxes: highest in the nation and climbing every year

Here we are in 2026 and affordability is now the number one issue in New Jersey. Property taxes are the highest in the nation. Families are doing the math and leaving. Not because they want to. Because they eventually have no choice.

What makes it sting is that it didn't have to be this way. Governor after governor, legislature after legislature, the promise was always the same — relief is coming, reform is on the way, we hear you. And yet here we are. The average New Jersey property tax bill now tops $9,800 a year. In some counties it's well past $12,000. The politicians change. The bills don't.

I think about my dad sometimes when we express these frustrations. He loved this state completely and without apology. Would he have stayed if he had lived to see what it costs to stay here now? I think so. The love of the place, the love of family, the pull of two centuries of roots — I think that would have kept him. But it sure would not have been easy. And it should not have to be this hard.

What my family's two centuries here taught me about what Trenton owes us

I love this state. I love the Shore, the food, the people, the pride, the attitude, the history — my history. None of that has changed. But the one thing I would fix, the one thing I would demand of every person who runs for office in Trenton, is simple: stop making it impossible for the people who love New Jersey most to afford to stay here.

My family has been here since before this country was a country. That's not a credential. That's a responsibility. And I take it seriously.

I'd love to hear from you. Has the tax burden in New Jersey changed the way you think about staying? Has it already pushed someone you love out the door? Call us.

Proud to be New Jersey.