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Legislature shouldn't sneak through taxes
Editorial, Courier-Post, January 3, 2008

WHERE WE STAND: It's wrong for a lame-duck Legislature to approve tax and pay hikes at the last minute.

State lawmakers in Trenton should be ashamed of themselves if they approve a bunch of tax increases and pay raises for government workers on their way out the door at a time when the state is facing a potential $3 billion budget shortfall in the coming fiscal year.

The current session of the state Legislature ends when the new Legislature is sworn in at noon Tuesday. Before then, a number of bills in the Senate and Assembly are expected to be passed through committee and voted on to become law. They include:

• A proposal to give state judges an 11 percent pay raise after they got a 5.7 percent raise last year.
• A $10 tax on every new television sold in New Jersey. The money would go to create a recycling program for old televisions.
• A $3-per-ton tax on solid-waste facility owners and collectors for the state to support municipal and county recycling programs.
• A bill to allow cities in New Jersey the ability to impose a 7 percent parking tax during special events such as concerts and games. The money would go to pay police, public works and other employees needed for special events.
• A bill to allow Newark to tax tickets at the new Prudential Center, home of the New Jersey Devils, up to 5 percent.

While these taxes appear to be well-meaning, it's still indicative of the problem in New Jersey. Most taxes, when they're thought up, are well meaning. The money is promised to some worthwhile government program or cause. But over time, these taxes have piled up in New Jersey to a level that's off the charts. New Jerseyans are just taxed to their breaking point now.

As for the pay increase for judges, we don't understand how it can be justified at a time when the state is facing such a shortfall of funds and when the average New Jerseyan does not get an 11 percent raise after just getting a 5.7 percent raise.

Seeing the Legislature basically sneak some more taxes and pay increases through in the last few minutes of a session is upsetting. The old Legislature and its outgoing members will be doing dirty work for the new Legislature, which will include 16 new senators and 28 new Assembly members, if it approves all these measures and adds a few more taxes for New Jerseyans to pay on the way out the door.

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