Spadea’s 7-point plan to lower NJ taxes

On the Fourth of July, instead of starting the holiday off with a BBQ and a day at the beach, I spoke to a group of concerned neighbors in Normandy Beach about tax policy. Appreciate our friend Larry Reid who heads up the "Property Tax Reform NJ" group.

I know, it seems out of place for the Fourth unless you really think about the spirit of the holiday. It's a celebration of our American way of life, which includes creating a nation where its citizens are not oppressed by outrageous, unnecessary, and burdensome taxation. It was a fight against taxation without representation that got us here in the first place!

Fighting high taxes is as American as apple pie and baseball. In New Jersey, it's a particularly tough battle as taxes have spiked to out-of-control levels over the past few decades. We have the highest real estate and business taxes in the country and the 4th highest income tax burden. It's no wonder that most of the moves are out of New Jersey.

I spoke about some of the things we need to do immediately in order to turn things around in the Garden State.

1. Implement a Reverse Millionaires Tax.
2. Monetize the assets of New Jersey Transit.
3. Change the school funding formula to reward districts performing under budget and with the highest percentage of graduates finding employment.
4. End the crisis of overspending with zero results in cities like Newark and revamp the quality of schools through charters, micro-schools, and implementing other parental choice options.
5. Stop funding the pension for the NJEA until a line is drawn between new hires with 5-7 years on the job and others. Newer employees must be converted to 403(b) programs with a match to end the funding or a pension that will likely not be able to pay for retirees in just a few short years.
6. Freeze government hiring and reduce size and scope through attrition.
7. Cut major budget items including the unnecessary billion-dollar subsidy to Rutgers.

It's time to change New Jersey for the better. It's time to elect a government that represents average working families, first responders, and small businesses.

We the people, the taxpayers, deserve a truly representative government, the overspending, over-taxing hacks (mostly lawyers) that currently run Trenton seem more interested in their own contracts and incomes than making NJ affordable for the rest of us. It's time we change that.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.

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