Team Allen: “Property Taxpayers Deserve Guaranteed Relief”

Team Allen: “Property Taxpayers Deserve Guaranteed Relief”

Allen, Propp and Griffin unveil plan to deliver property tax relief and reform

 Burlington—  7th District Senator Diane Allen, and Assembly candidates Brian Propp and Nancy Griffin today unveiled their plan to make New Jersey more affordable by delivering guaranteed property tax relief and reform to combat New Jersey’s highest in the nation property taxes.  The plan mirrors Senator Allen’s bill, SCR15, which caps state spending to deliver relief.  Senator Allen has repeatedly submitted this bill, but it has never been acted on by Trenton Democrats.

Team Allen’s Property Tax Plan would create a Constitutional Amendment to:

      Take all excess revenues from capping state spending and utilize them for property tax relief, not more wasteful expenditures

      Directly return ½ of these excess revenues to taxpayers in immediate relief

      Place ½ of the excess revenues in a reserve account to fund property tax relief in difficult budget years

“Proposals for property tax relief don’t do any good for the taxpayers if politicians can’t pay for them or have to raise other taxes to do it” said Allen.  “Our plan uses the spending cap and reform proposal we have already unveiled to fund property tax relief that is guaranteed by the State Constitution.  Furthermore, our plan will create a reserve account so that even in difficult budget years, taxpayers will get the relief they deserve.  And, as part of the Constitutional Amendment we’ll propose, that reserve account will be safe from big spending politicians who think they can spend your money better than you.”

“This plan is about reforming the process,” said Propp.  “New Jersey will never see true property tax relief until we reform the process by lowering the cost of government and return the savings to the taxpayers.  If we cap state spending, we can provide guaranteed relief and ensure that it isn’t taken away.  And the best part is- the voters will be part of the process by approving the Constitutional Amendment that gets it all done.  They’ll be taking back control from the politicians.”

“Families across our district are hurting in a big way,” said Griffin.  “The modest steps taken thus far to try and resolve this problem are not good enough.  Every year, we hear horror stories about people who are literally revaluated out of their homes during property tax time.  We’ve seen too many proposals that are one-shot gimmicks that don’t last more than a year.  This plan is a long-term solution to a persistent problem, and we call on every Legislator, Democrat or Republican, to join us in this fight by supporting our plan.  An affordable New Jersey depends on it.”

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