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Gov. Jon Corzine and the Democratic-controlled state Legislature seem bound and determined to keep the state No. 1 … in property taxes. The 3.7 percent increase seen in the average residential property taxes last year brought the average bill to more than $7,045. That should certainly keep us in the lead. Go, New Jersey!




Leave it to the state to try and sell the lemon as lemonade. Corzine's Budget-in-Brief document stated: "While higher than the desired goal of 4 percent, it was the lowest rate of growth in a decade.'' That should certainly cheer up those in the 81 towns … up from 67 a year earlier … with average tax bills in five figures, topped by a stunning $19,225 in tiny Tavistock in Camden County.

The average tax bill rose in 529 municipalities … at least 10 percent in 20 of them and between 5 and 10 percent in 191 more. The fell in just 36. The average property tax levy increased 4.9 percent, exceeding the 4 percent cap enacted in 2007. Unfortunately, that cap has too many exceptions and can be waived by the state at the town's request. So much for the word "cap.''

The facts belie Gov. Corzine's attempts to pin the blame for the state's budget troubles on his predecessors and the national economy. Since taking office three years ago, property taxes in New Jersey have increased 18 percent.

A 2008 Tax Foundation report found that New Jersey had the highest state and local tax burden in the country for the third year in a row. New Jersey not only had the highest property taxes in the nation, but the third-highest income tax rates … a rate that will increase this year under Corzine's budget proposal … the 10th-highest sales tax and the 11th-highest corporate tax rate.

Taken together, the tax burden relative to other states is worse than it was under the McGreevey administration.

Last week's budget proposal will likely put even more distance between New Jersey and the other states. Cuts in municipal aid and frozen aid to most school districts will create even greater upward pressure on local property taxes. And Corzine plans to eliminate property tax rebates for nonsenior households with incomes of more than $75,000 and suspend the ability of taxpayers to deduct property taxes from their income taxes.

Corzine has taken taxation to a new level - one that will indeed allow him to proclaim New Jersey as a leader.