Senator Steven Oroho

June 30, 2008

Contact: Andy Pratt / 609-292-5199
Senator Steve Oroho (R-24)

Senator Steven Oroho, R-24, made this statement about the budget that Governor Corzine signed today:

The relentless climb in taxes, especially property taxes, remains the No. 1 problem for New Jersey’s middle class. That’s why Republicans unanimously oppose Governor Corzine’s budget.

“New Jersey homeowners will understand the true impact of this budget when they get their next property tax bills,” said Senator Oroho. “Instead of cutting waste, we just increased the property tax burden on middle-class New Jerseyans, who can’t afford the extra load.”

This spending plan will inevitably lead to higher taxes because:

Municipal aid is being cut unfairly. Some of the most efficiently run towns and cities will be forced to raise property taxes on hard working, middle class families because the governor is cutting aid that makes up a huge portion of their local budgets. Yet aid for local governments and school districts that have documented irresponsible and wasteful spending will see their aid rise by as much as 22 percent.

Tax rebates are being eliminated or reduced. Last year, the governor signed off on a tax increase to boost rebates. One year later, the tax increase is still in effect, but the rebates are being cut. This is a broken promise to middle class taxpayers who thought the governor was serious about property tax relief.

Transportation funding is depleted. The governor rejected a Republican plan for putting 500 million vitally needed dollars into transportation without an increase in tolls, taxes or fees. The governor now says he will have a new proposal to fund transportation by October. Given he put zero dollars into the budget to solve this problem, his proposal will inevitably seek higher taxes or tolls. New Jersey commuters can’t afford a budget that will lead to higher fuel taxes or tolls at time when gasoline prices are soaring.

Debt will surge. The governor pushed $3.9 billion in new school borrowing through the Legislature, bypassing the voters. At least $1 billion of this money is “Christmas Tree” spending including in the borrowing to, as its Assembly sponsor is reported to have said, “get the votes” for passage. This huge bond sale comes after untold millions of dollars in school borrowing money were wasted through incompetence and corruption. By some measures, the state will have more than $40 billion in debt when this school borrowing is completed. This debt burden will add hundreds of millions to the annual tax bills of New Jerseyans. It’s exactly the kind of Trenton policy making that has created the crippling tax load of New Jersey’s middle class.

Spending is moved off budget. According to the Record of Hackensack, the governor has moved more than $940 million in spending off the budget, allowing him to claim that he has passed an austere spending plan. Hiding spending is not the same as cutting the budget. This budget has more than doubled in 10 years. Taxes have been raised more than 100 times. The governor should have used the suggestions in the Republicans Common Sense Plan for an Affordable New Jersey to provide real spending reductions.

“Middle-class New Jersey needs relief that this budget doesn’t provide,” said Senator Oroho. “We need leadership that is committed to a more affordable state.”

To see the Republicans’ common-sense plan, go to SenateNJ.com or NJAssemblyRepublicans.com.

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