New NJ Budget Tax Increases

As predicted here, Corzine's budget that passed this week including a partial restoration of the property tax rebate program due to increase tax amnesty collections of 500 million dollars. Rebates have continued for Seniors and are restored for those making up to 75,000 dollars per year(at a 2/3 rate). It does eliminate the rebate for renters which I never understood anyway.

From the Burlington County Times:

The recession-year budget raises $1.3 billion in new taxes on liquor, cigarettes and the wealthy. It extends a 4 percent surcharge on the corporate business tax that was to expire, and realizes $500 million by suspending rebates to renters and higher income homeowners. Republicans say all that amounts to $2.8 billion in tax increases.

The article goes on to note the increased tax on residents earning over 500,000 dollars per year. In addition, to those making over 250,000 per year, next year you cannot deduct your property taxes. For those under 250,000 per year, your property tax deduction is now capped at 5,000. Check out your tax bill, I bet many of you out there are about to get a tax increase and you don't even know it.

What is missing from this budget is cuts. Real cuts. And that is why Corzine is still doesn't get it. The only people who will get it from this budget is the citizens of New Jersey. And they are going to get it in ways they never imagined.

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Looks like Chris Smith may have motivated his first primary challenger.

While doing some research this evening, I ran across this blog entry:

Until now.

Now, he has not just strayed off the reservation. He has abandoned ship.

His vote to decimate industry and the economy in America was not just some unusual vote for a tax increase or a principled stand on something like abortion or a single national security measure. It was a vote on one of the most transformative pieces of legislation in our nation’s history. It was a defining vote. It was a vote that diminishes any and all other stances that he has ever taken on such things as jobs, taxes and even our national defense. This one vote on Crap-and-Trade defines Chris Smith forever more as a typical Northeast liberal.

As a result, I am contemplating my own run against him for Congress.

Here's hoping he is not the last person who sees this as a chance to make a change here in Central NJ. Read his entire blog post here.

His name is Anthony Del Pelligrino(aka Kempite). Check out his profile here.

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New Jersey's Own - Cap and Traitors (Smith, LoBiondo and Lance)

In case you missed it last night, the Democrat controlled congress pass a massive energy tax bill called Cap and Trade. The vote was close but only made possible by three REPUBLICAN representatives, LoBiondo, Smith and Lance. I have already commented on Smith and will leave to others LoBiondo and Lance. But needless to say, these men knew that NJ Republican voters were against this bill, they knew that the GOP was against the bill and they still made it possible for the Democrats to ram this ill concieved legislation down our throats without even reading the bill.

Thank you gentleman for doing your part to ensure that New Jersey remains the highest taxed state in the country. And should anyone from Chris Christie's office be following, you should make it perfectly clear that these people do not stand with you. They are a disgrace.

Representative Frank A. LoBiondo (R - 02) 202-225-6572 202-225-3318
Representative Chris H. Smith (R - 04) 202-225-3765 202-225-7768
Representative Leonard Lance (R - 07) 202-225-5361 202-225-9460

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Energy Tax Fraud Passes. NJ Traitor Chris Smith!

I called my congressman today Chris Smith to encourage him to reject the energy tax proposed to line the pockets of Nancy Pelosi's friends while taxing the citizens of this country anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars per year. Republican Chris Smith voted for this tax. While I have supported Mr Smith in the past, from this point forward, he is now public enemy number one. Apparently, he is one of eight Republicans that caused this mess of a bill that I guarantee you Mr Smith has never read to pass.

I am sorry but with Republicans like Chris Smith, we might as well have a Democrat in his seat. Right now, Mr Smith makes me sick. If Chris Smith is your congressman, call him at 202-225-3765. Let him and his people know that you do not appreciate his acting against you. He has now lined up as one more Republican who is okay with raising your taxes. Ask him exactly WHERE the money the government will collect is going to go. He doesn't know. He cannot know because the bill was released this morning at 3:00am and he hasn't read it.

By the way, one of his people told me today that calls were well AGAINST the bill. Thanks Chris. Time to examine Chris Smith's donation records.


*** Additional Comment *****

Congressman Cap and Tax Smith's voicemail is full. I wonder why?

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Cap and Trade Tax will cost average family $3,900 poer year: MIT

MIT profession John Reilly estimated that the Cap and Trade proposal put forward by Henry Waxman(D-CA) will cost every American family $3,900 per year. Various liberal blogs and the typical promoters like Media matters are howling that these estimates are way too high. But the problem is that even if the number if $250 dollars per year, this is ridiculous legislation that will do nothing but hinder the ability of the United States to compete in global markets. There is no upside as it will also do nothing to improve the environment even if it is wildly successful.

Contact you Senator and House member now to defeat this horrible legislation:


Residents of New Jersey are represented in Congress by 2 Senators and 13 Representatives.

Member Name DC Phone DC FAX

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D- NJ) 202-224-3224 202-228-4054
Senator Robert Menendez (D- NJ) 202-224-4744 202-228-2197
Representative Robert E. Andrews (D - 01) 202-225-6501 202-225-6583
Representative Frank A. LoBiondo (R - 02) 202-225-6572 202-225-3318
Representative John Adler (D - 03) 202-225-4765 202-225-0778
Representative Chris H. Smith (R - 04) 202-225-3765 202-225-7768
Representative Scott Garrett (R - 05) 202-225-4465 202-225-9048
Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D - 06) 202-225-4671 202-225-9665
Representative Leonard Lance (R - 07) 202-225-5361 202-225-9460
Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D - 08) 202-225-5751 202-225-5782
Representative Steve Rothman (D - 09) 202-225-5061 202-225-5851
Representative Donald M. Payne (D - 10) 202-225-3436 202-225-4160
Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (R - 11) 202-225-5034 202-225-3186
Representative Rush Holt (D - 12) 202-225-5801 202-225-6025
Representative Albio Sires (D - 13) 202-225-7919 202-226-0792

Oh, and I bet no one will read this bill either.

Additional comment: Many will comment that they felt that Republicans misrepresented Reilly's 2007 study and even the author said it was off by a factor of 10 ($340). But the various explanations of why they interpreted his data different was a series of assumptions (these costs won't be passed on to consumers, it doesn't include effect of carbon offsets, it assumes that no money will find its way back to communities etc.). I can only comment to this in one way. Name one time the Federal government (or event the State government returned back to you more than you sent to them. For example, in NJ we used to have Property Tax Rebates. So you give the government 6,000 to 20,000 dollars in property taxes. And then they send you a check for $750. Interesting....off by a factor of 10.

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NY Times Healthcare Poll - Fake, Phony and Fraud

When I saw the New York Times Healthcare poll the other day that claimed that there was massive support for Obama's healthcare plan, I was surprised becauase the poll didn't seem to fit with the number of people who were "happy" with their current plans and doctors. Apparently, the fix was in (from CNSNews):

A New York Times/CBS News poll released Saturday that showed broad bipartisan support for President Obama’s health care reform, over-sampled Obama voters compared to McCain voters, critics say.

The poll, administered June 12-16, found that 72 percent of respondents favored the creation of a government health-insurance plan that would compete with private insurers.

I have long been suspect of anything that is labelled to be fair form either CBS or the New York Times. But this is outright manipulation of data - propoganda to benefit the Obama agenda. But the facts don't match the poll. And the media is trying to ram healthcare reform down our throats.

“We are identical to where we were in 1993-94,” she told CNSNews.com, “with only 51 percent of respondents even in the Democrat-skewing poll saying the health-care system needs fundamental changes, versus 52 percent in January 1994. When the question becomes whether the system needs to be completely rebuilt, 34 percent say yes in the NYT/CBS poll, versus 38 percent in 1994.

Additionally, the vast majority of Americans are satisfied with their own insurance coverage, as they were at the beginning of the Clinton administration. Approximately 77 percent in the current poll say they are at least somewhat satisfied.

Read the entire article here.

It's real hope and change you can believe in. Except its fake.

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2nd Stimulus? Let's repeal the first one!

President Obama told a press conference today that a second stimulus wasn't needed yet because the results of the first were not clear. I beg to differ. The promise was that the rushed stimulus was needed to avoid job losses reaching percent. Congress passsed the stimulus and we blew past that mark heading toward 10%.

Maybe this country needs the debate we didn't have with the first stiumulus. Step 1, repeal the first stimulus. Step 2, discuss what if anythign REALLY needs to be done to stimulate the economy. Step 3, pass the legislation that should have been passed the first time but couldn't get past the congressional porkfest. And the beauty of this orginal stimulus is that since it was never intended to stimulate anything, most of the spending is back loaded. There is still time to correct this if the people would make more noise about it.

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NJ's biggest problem? Auto GPS D-Assemblyman.

Amid fiscal problems and a legislature and governor without a plan, what pressing issue does Democrat Assemblyman Harvey Smith think needs urgent attention? GPS use while driving. From Fox news:

Democratic State Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith has introduced a bill that would “prohibit the manual operation of a global positioning system (GPS) device or similar navigation device by the operator of a moving motor vehicle”. If passed, the ban would be the first of its kind in the nation.

Once again our legislature shows how out of touch they are with the real world. Let me offer a case in point. We have a cell phone ban. Try a test tomorrow morning. Count how many people on your way to work are on their cell phones while driving. You get 5 points for civilians, 15 for state workers in public vehicles and 25 points for public safety personnel(anywhere) or turnpike personnel on the turnpike. I bet you have a 50/50 chance of scoring over 100. I would give you a 25% chance of scoring over 200.

And you will never see someone get cited for it because everyone does it. And only a local police department who is looking for revenue will ticket it.

Now add the GPS ban. The joke here is that people who are unfamiliar with their surroundings cause an inordinate number of accidents. But Harvey doesn't care about that because he is really the undersheriff of Hudson County. And this bill is just one more revenue opportunity for the cities and state. The only problem is that with citizens fed up with higher property taxes, I don't think there is much of an appetite in any intelligent town hall for using the police to hawk revenue this way. Nice try Harvey.

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Obama's Latest Tax-Dodging Nominee

Via Hot Air:

The latest appointment to make an emergency call to H&R Block is Capricia Marshall, who worked for Hillary Clinton’s Senate and presidential campaigns until now....

[quoting the NY Times] President Obama’s choice as chief of protocol for the State Department, a position that carries the status of an ambassadorship, did not file tax returns for 2005 and 2006, errors she corrected last November.[end quote]

Oy. And here's the funniest bit:

[Quoting the NYT] The protocol chief customarily helps plan events for visiting leaders and helps oversee protocol matters for the president and vice president abroad.[end quote]

Well, she’s certainly proven adept at planning and process, hasn’t she?

I just want a tax code simple enough for Democrats to understand and a rate low enough that they'll pay it.

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Christmas in June for Corzine - prepare for the rebate scam

I was reading the New York Post editorial today referring to a larger than expected revenue collection from the NJ Tax Amnesty program. I read that New Jersey politicians were calling it Christmas in June. From the Daily Record:

It's Christmas in June, but it also upsets the apple cart," said Senate President Richard Codey, D-Essex.

The real question is "When did Corzine and cronies know about this windfall?". Was it before they submitted the budget and planned to REVIVE the property tax rebate just in time for Corzine's re-election in the fall?

If that is the case, I actually hope New Jersey voters fall for it. Because that would cement the utter and complete bankruptcy in this state and Corzine's responsibility for it. The rebate program has long been a scam to avoid fixing the state's financial programs and Corzine appeared for the first time to show some courage. But he didn't really. It was all a sham because he knew he would revive it at election time. And he knows what we all know. NJ voters will go along because apparently none of them take the time to read or understand what is going or act even if they do.

Status quo will continue here. Until we become Michigan. Most of us will be forced to leave by then.

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Middletown Tea Party - July 4, 2009

The will be a Tea Party in Middletown, NJ on July 4.

The event will be held as 1715 Hwy 35 from 11-1
Parking next door at Middletown Post Office

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Summit Tea Party - July 3, 2009

There will be a Tea Party July 3 in Summit, New Jersey.

The event will be from 3-6 at The Village Green
across from the Train Station.

Check out their web site here.

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Margate Tea Party, Jersh

Margate

July 4

Time to be announced

Washington and Amherst Avenues

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Read the bill! Is that too much to ask?

A while back we blogged about the passage of the stimulus act which was not read by anyone in congress because it would have impossible to read it given its size and the time allowed for it to be reviewed. Well, the Sunlight Foundation is back supporting HR 554 which would require 72 hours for legislation to be considered before congress.

By introducing House Resolution 554, the bipartisan sponsors Reps. Baird (D-WA) and Culberson (R-TX) have taken us one step closer toward greater transparency, and given us a chance to improve the dialogue between members of Congress and the people who elected them.

What happens when there is no time allowed to review bills before the are voted on in congress.

There are many reasons having 72 hours of public notice prior to Congress's consideration of a bill is important, and here are a couple examples we found:

- Most citizens would have supported amending the economic stimulus bill to remove the provision allowing AIG executives to receive retroactive bonuses - if only they had known.

- The average person probably would have preferred to let the judicial system work rather than have Congress give immunity from lawsuits to telecommunications companies that participated in a controversial wiretapping scheme.

-Workers hoping to retire on their 401(k) investments might have liked to have some serious analysis of whether credit default swaps ought to be regulated. We know how that worked out.

-And, just about everyone benefits from mandating time to check for questionable and wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

Want to find out more? Go to www.readthebill.org and check out the endorsements and sign the petition. It will be worth your time.

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Responsibility: Obama and Corzine

President Obama makes a habit of blaming everyone in the past(Bush, Clinton, Reagan) every time he wants to ram through some massive spending plan. For example, Bush was at fault because he ran a deficit. However, Obama's projected deficit over the next 10 years based on the budget he passed, the stimulus he rammed through and the spending he is proposing will be more than the deficits of EVERY President before him added together. Now the President is losing sleep over it:

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that worrying about US finances "keeps me awake at night" but defended increasing government spending to prevent the recession from worsening.

Fast forward to Jon Corzine. He refuses to take any responsibility for the explosion in new taxes and spending on his watch, the increase in the state employee roles while private sector jobs collaps and his crowning glory, New Jersey's highest tax burden of any state. Click here to see the numbers.

Corzine says he is dealing with what has occurred. Noone told him to spend like he has the past several years. Noone told him to borrow long term to pay today's operational shortfalls. The voters told him they didn't want state funded Stem Cell research but he tried to do it anyway. And is was Corzine that said the he "didn't take this job to be scrooge".

It's time for Jon Corzine to go. And if the next guy is scrooge, so be it. This state needs a penny pincher because we haven't had one in some time.





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July 4 NJ Tea Party Locations

We are once again trying to get the word out on Tea Party locations in New Jersey. We are already posting Morristown on July 4 On the Green. We have also updated contact and web site info links on the banner to the right.

Send us your Tea Party info. During the April 15 events, we were one of top sites for getting the word out throug Google search and relaying information to people who were trying to determine where they could participate.

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GOP: Governor Deficit's (aka Jon Corzine) Budget

PolitickerNJ.com ran an article based on the GOP criticism of Jon Corzine's budget scheduled to be debated this week. The article listed Corzine's ill conceived "time bomb", or bad decisions for today that we will pay for horribly tomorrow:

The Corzine Pension Deficit -- Governor Corzine's budgets have underfunded the pensions off teachers, police officers, and other government employees. The total during his administration, including for fiscal 2010: More than $7.5 billion. This includes $6.5 billion in unpaid state contributions, and incredibly irresponsible legislation this year that allows municipalities to defer more than $1 billion in payments to the funds.

The Corzine Federal Aid Deficit – Governor Corzine has relied on $2.2 billion in one-time federal stimulus aid to create the illusion he is cutting that much in spending. He didn't cut this spending. He merely used federal aid to pay state bills. Next year, that federal money will not be available. The governor hasn't provided an answer on how he will fill this $2.2 billion addition to next year's deficit.

The Corzine 'Temporary' Tax Deficit – The governor is relying on more than $1 billion in tax increases this year that he is labeling "temporary." He is raising the income tax and eliminating the deductibility of property taxes for many middle class residents. Again, the governor hasn't told legislators what he plans, if anything, to eliminate this $1 billion hole next year.

The Corzine Property Tax Rebate Deficit -- More than 1.7 million New Jersey homeowners who got rebates in the past will not get them. The governor says the cancellation of rebates is temporary. He doesn't say where he will find the $1 billion needed to restore them.

The Corzine Unemployment Fund Deficit – Governor Corzine will borrow $1.6 billion from the federal government because of past raids on the unemployment benefit fund. He has no announced plan for how he will pay this loan back.

The Corzine Debt Service Deficit – The governor will skip $450 million of payments on bonds next year. He hasn't said one word on how much extra this will cost taxpayers over the long haul, or where he intends to find the money to pay for the borrowing in the future.

The Corzine Biden Buyoff Deficit – The governor has promised a 7 percent pay increase to state workers, half that will come 12 months from now and the other half in 18 months. This will cost the state $350 million. Again, the Governor has committed to a plan that will cost taxpayers for decades without finding a way to pay for the expense.

The sad thing about the Governor's budget is that while he is getting creative in kicking the can down the road, he once again does not make a single difficult decision. He has not cut people, he has not cut patronage, he has not cut back over generous services that the state can no longer afford and he has not decreased any part of the budget in a meaningful way. This is the same cowardice he has shown during every budget cycle.

President Obama keep harping on the failure of the financial industry which has hurt every segment of our economy. Jon Corzine was one of the people who became rich during that time and we now see that his enrichment was not based on competence. I wonder when we will hear President Obama criticize Corzine and his destructive greed and incompetence?

Crickets chirping....

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Check this out! What if we didn't pass the stimulus?

This blog post and video are amazing. Check it out.

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Let's SLOW down major legislation...

The Founding Fathers designed our government to balance the passions of the masses with the discipline of good governance through the makeup of the Legislative(House and Senate), Executive and Judicial branches. But unfortunately, our legislative branch of government is broken. Why do I say that?

The Federal government has recently pushed through spending "express" style on stimulus to pass a laundry list of liberal spending priorities that have waited for decades. As of May 16, despite the legislative "emergency", only 6 percent of stimulus money had been spend. So what was the hurry?

Next up is cap and trade. And healthcare. And Democrats are planning to ram them through as well. At some point, some statesmanlike Senators or House members may appear in that caucus. But I am not holding my breath.

It is time to slow down. And make any future legislation right, not expedient. Haste makes waste. And this Congress is proof of it.

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Another NJ Politician Sentenced for Corruption

From the Star Ledger:

A "crass, immature" Passaic ex-councilman was sentenced yesterday to more than six years in federal prison for accepting $44,500 in bribes for himself and other onetime city officials.

Every time I see one of these articles, I am struck by the sheer audacity of the corruption. It is often in plain sight and the citizens keep re-electing these people who do not act in their interests. And more shocking is that the charges are NEVER leveled by New Jersey prosecutors. They are always Federal investigations.

His undoing was an FBI investigation that led to indictments of 11 New Jersey public officials, including convictions for mentor and Mayor Sammy Rivera; Passaic Councilman Marcellus Jackson; Paterson schools trustee Chauncey Brown III, and Democratic Assemblymen Alfred E. Steele of Paterson and Mims Hackett Jr. of Orange.

In a separate trial yesterday, also before Thompson, a fourth Passaic official became a casualty of that investigation: Councilman Gerardo Fernandez was convicted of perjury for lying to a grand jury reviewing evidence of corruption.

"Clearly, for a significant portion of the City Council, corruption was just part of doing business," acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra Jr. said in a statement. "We can only hope that all of these convictions in Passaic will have the desired deterrent effect and give the public hope that their other current representatives are honest and working in their best interests."

Of course, I guess we can expect these to end with the election of Barack Obama. New Jersey corrupt Democrat politicians can breathe a sigh of relieve with AG Holder in charge as he is only interested in prosecuting Republicans for political purposes.
At least we can hope that we get rid of Corzine and let Christie take over and put teeth back into prosecutions at the state level.

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Minnesota's Bachmann takes on Acorn

On my way home from the airport tonight I was listening to Mark Levin's radio show and heard Minnesota's Michele Bachmann speaking about her proposed legislation to organizations under indictment to receive Federal tax dollars.

“This is about how Congress spends the people’s money and about setting the bar high. Accessing federal funding is a privilege, not a right, and it must be earned,” said Bachmann. “Congress should not allow groups, such as ACORN which has been repeatedly investigated and indicted for voter registration fraud, to receive taxpayer dollars. You can’t violate the public trust with one hand and take the taxpayers’ money with the other.”

Check out her website. It is more than we are getting from our representatives right now.

Go here.

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Primary Election Day! Get out and Vote!

Today is Primary Day for the Gubernatorial elections in New Jersey. This election cycle is beginning the most important election for Governor in the state for 20 years. Don't sit idly by and complain.

Get out and VOTE!!!!

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Today the news talked about how Scotlands phenom Susan Boyle was admitted to treatment rest from her Britains Got Talent journey. Clearlythe stress wastaking a toll. The joke here is the people who criticized her for getting frazzles by the press.

Are you kidding me? This woman has lived a good portion of her life happy, with her cat and never bothered anyone. She decides to audition for the show. The rest of that is history.



The great thing is that this wonderful woman treated us to one heck of a great journey toward the underdog making good.

Well done Susan. Well done.

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Lonegan goes back to purely negative campaigning...

While driving back from an aborted trip to New York this morning due to train issues, I heard a new Lonegan ad attacking Chris Christie and accusing him of assorted violations of something or other. The problem with this ad is that it is just like the sea of other negative ads Lonegan unleashed. This one got a job, that one got a job...blah blah blah.

This negative ad is exactly what has been wrong with Republicans in the state for too long. Instead of competing with ideas, Lonegan is throwing mud. Does he not know that this didn't against Menendez, or Corzine or anyone else lately. To become Governor, each of these candidates needs to describe why and how they will be different than Corzine. However, Lonegan's attack ads just sound like more losing Republican strategy from the same losing Republican NJ strategists.

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