New Jersey residents pay the most taxes over a lifetime (Opinion)

The governor downplays it and the media, the PR arm of the Democrat Party, seem to ignore it. Taxes are and have been the biggest concerns of most informed adults in New Jersey for generations. So, when a recent poll came out that points out the fact that taxes are the biggest problem facing the state, most of us without our heads up our asses, said "duh!"

This reason is easy to figure out. Doing something about it is nearly impossible.

In New Jersey, we have a giant, well-funded bureaucracy. Government is just too big in this state. The problem with reducing it now, is that most families have at least someone who is connected to it. So many people want to keep the gravy train going for their mom, dad, son, or daughter and vote for the party of big government, Democrats.

They have a majority in both the assembly and senate that will probably never be overcome. Now we are in a period that we will even elect Democrat governors who promise to raise taxes and thumb their noses at the constituents who complain about it. The big tax that hurts the most and drives so many people out of the state is property taxes. The biggest chunk of that tax goes to pay for public schools, about 70-75%.

Some attempts have been made just to discuss the problem and the NJEA, the most powerful union perhaps in the country, shuts them down. Former powerful Senate President Steve Sweeney just hinted at an attempt to reign in property taxes and the NJEA funded a candidate to run against him. It put a scare in Sweeney and silenced him for the rest of his tenure in office. Maybe his successor will bring it up, but he doesn't have the power of Senate President, yet.

In New Jersey we have two sets of people. The people who work to pay taxes to feed the machine, and people who make up the giant machine that can't be satisfied unless taxes go higher and higher. The tax burden is more than just property taxes. We here in New Jersey will pay more taxes than any other state over a lifetime. Some people benefit greatly from those taxes and most of us just suffer through it because we love this state.

Yes, you could make that "abusive boyfriend" analogy, but it's more like the "trophy wife" you can't afford to divorce.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy. Any opinions expressed are Dennis Malloy's own.