RIBLE: WATCH OUT TAXPAYERS, YOUR REBATE CHECK COULD BE THE NEXT TO GO

AS DEMOCRATS PROPOSE CHIPPING AWAY AT PROPERTY TAX RELIEF, LAST YEAR’S PROGRAM LOOKS MORE LIKE A GIMMICK 

Responding to news reports that some Democrats are urging Governor Jon Corzine to consider further cuts to the state’s property tax rebates, Assemblyman David Rible today said it is becoming increasingly clear that last year’s property tax relief “program” is disappearing piece by piece.
 

“When this new property tax relief program was implemented last year, New Jersey homeowners were assured the program would be sustainable because it would be a top priority in future budgets,” said Rible, R-Monmouth. “Just one year later the program is being dramatically scaled back, and with suggestions to cut the program further, it is looking increasingly like these tax rebates were just an election-year gimmick.”

In his Fiscal Year 2009 budget Governor Corzine had proposed eliminating property tax rebates for families with household incomes of $150,000 or more and reducing the size of rebate checks for those earning over $100,000. It was later announced that the administration is also planning to base the rebates on 2006 property tax bills instead of the 2007 bills – a move that means rebates will not be adjusted to reflect last year’s property tax increases.

This week Senate President Richard Codey and several other Democrat legislators have suggested that if Governor Corzine wants to restore spending cuts he has made to the budget, he should consider eliminating the rebate checks for all families with household incomes exceeding $100,000.

“There are plenty of areas of wasteful and unnecessary spending in this budget that could be eliminated before we even talk about cutting property tax rebates,” Rible said. “An increasing number of New Jersey families are finding they cannot afford to live in this state and Governor Corzine needs to keep his commitment to these families by not eliminating this much needed tax relief.”

When the property tax rebate program was approved in 2007, Republican lawmakers warned that it might just be an election-year gimmick that would disappear in future budgets. As an alternative they suggested a constitutionally dedicated property tax relief program delivered through direct credits to property tax bills rather than rebate checks.

While Rible said that rebate checks may not be the best mechanism for delivering relief, he warned that if Democrats continue chipping away at the program, there soon will be few homeowners left who qualify – and then taxpayers will be left to pay New Jersey’s highest in the nation property taxes with no assistance of any kind.

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