Republicans submit budget proposal-Corzine Scoffs

Why is it that when politicians like Jon Corzine talk about working in a bipartisan way, he usually means that everyone needs to capitulate to his poor tax and spending plans. NJ Republicans submitted their budget plan yesterday(from Philly.com):

The Republican proposal would restore $375 million in property-tax rebates and $150 million in municipal aid, provide $500 million for transportation and allow $195 million to be restored to what they consider "unfair" cuts, which may include charity care to hospitals and co-payments for Medicaid. It would also reduce spending from the governor's proposal by $100 million.

The money would come from a variety of sources, including massive cuts to "special municipal aid," the poorly defined state grants that were the subject of criticism in a recent state auditor's report; smaller increases for former Abbott school districts; reforming the state's procedures for procuring goods and services; increasing the retirement age for many government employees from 60 to 62, and calculating a state employee's pension based on salary in the last five years of service instead of the last three.

Of course the devil is in the details and we will review them in detail later. However, Corzine's response is typical is his spoiled rich guy approach to most everything:

"Republicans are following in the footsteps of their predecessors by talking about spending money and restoring cuts without offering any legitimate way to pay for them," Corzine said. "This is all make-believe math. This is the same sort of gimmickry and trickery that has put the state in the fiscal mess we now find ourselves trying deal with."

Governor, what do you call make-believe math? It has been clearly shown that changing the retirement age would make a huge difference in the pension obligation of the state. And also, that it is much more difficult for municipal employees to load up their pay with overtime when they need to do it for 5 years instead of three.
That is real math. The make-believe part is YOUR unwillingness to stand up to the special interests that are protecting the municipal workers and would bankrupt the state before offering a single concession. Your leadership is what is "make-believe".

I was actually impressed with Comrade Roberts:

Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr. (D., Camden) was less negative, but also noncommittal.

"Every item on the Republicans' list deserves to be fully vetted for feasibility and potential impact on the state's long-term bottom line," Roberts said. "Democrats and Republicans alike are committed to delivering a final budget that makes government at all levels more accountable and will make the state more affordable. No idea that potentially could help New Jersey's taxpayers will be rejected out-of-hand."

Specifically, Roberts noted that, like the Republicans, he hopes to replace "gimmicky" property-tax rebate checks with direct property-tax credits, which should be less expensive to administer.

Here's to the hope that this proposal starts the process of getting the budget under control and stops the "where can we tax next" cycle we seem to have been in for the past 4 months.

Read the entire article here.

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