Robin Hood and his Merry Men should visit NJ's public schools

MAY 4, 2004
By GREG RUMMO

     AND NOW ANOTHER reason to leave New Jersey: The woods may become a dangerous place to walk in the near future if you are fortunate enough to earn over $500,000. I am not talking about the black bear. It’s something far worse: Robin Hood and his Merry Men are about to be unleashed.

How else to characterize Governor McGreevey’s latest attempt to rob from the rich and give to the poor?

The target of his proposed increase in the state income tax to fund larger property tax rebates is small business owners and CEOs of larger companies, many of whom are already paying tax at the highest marginal rate twice; once when their company is shaken down and the second time when it comes out of their salaries and bonuses.

And you thought the rich didn’t pay their fair share.

It’s no secret that homeowners pay far too much property tax in this state. It’s one of the reasons for the exodus south to warmer climes like Florida where there is no state income tax and property taxes are a fraction of New Jersey’s.

My suspicions are it was the primary motivation for whoever designed that t-shirt with the catchy phrase, “Will the last person leaving New Jersey remember to turn out the lights?” emblazoned across the front.

The governor’s crosshairs are centered on the wrong targets. Perhaps he should consider aiming his crossbow at the real thieves—the school boards and the New Jersey Education Association—the organization behind the never-ending demand for money to run its public school monopoly while doing its best to quash school vouchers, charter schools, the home school movement nationwide and anything else that would foster an atmosphere of competition.

But don’t take my word for it. To really appreciate this column, you have to get worked up. So go get your property tax bill (as if you need to be reminded). And while you rummage through the drawer where you keep it, point your web browser to Google.com on the Internet and type “NEA opposes” in the search window for over 6,800 enlightening tidbits of information for your reading pleasure.

Are you livid yet?

There is simply no debate about the public school’s impact on property taxes. The numbers don’t lie.

Ours went up $2,000 last year to a tad over $7,000—and we don’t live in a palatial estate on multiple acres of rolling hills. The five of us fit efficiently into approximately 1200 square feet of living space in a bi-level situated on a third of an acre. The whole kit and caboodle cost less than $200,000 when we purchased it new 12 years ago.

Even with no mortgage, our monthly payments for housing are almost $600.

Sixty-three percent of our property taxes—$4394.91 to be exact—is “district school tax.” 

In New Jersey, the average annual cost per student to attend a public school is five figures. Yet, somehow, incredibly, (please, someone send me an intelligent e-mail and explain it to me) we are able to send our older, 15-year old son to a private high school for thousands less.

The difference between what we are paying for tuition and what it costs to educate a student in one of New Jersey’s public schools is almost as much as our total annual property tax bill.

Talk about robbery. That’s obscene.

I’ll tell you what fair would be. Fair would entail anyone sending their children to private school or teaching their children at home getting a big fat rebate on their property tax equivalent to what they now pay as a “district school tax.”

Here’s another novel idea: Why not let public schools charge tuition like every other school and be done with taxing homeowners altogether for education?

Major property tax relief is long overdue in New Jersey. Homeowners, especially those with children already in private schools, or married couples with no children are the ones entitled to property tax relief. And I don’t mean a pittance of a few hundred dollars.

But don’t hold your breath: It’s unlikely this is going to happen any time soon—especially with a tax and spend liberal like McGreevey planning his next raid of plunder from Trenton’s Sherwood Forest.

If the governor gets his way—and it’s not a done deal as there are those in his own party who oppose his proposed tax hike—I expect to see more business owners leave New Jersey to set up shop elsewhere—someplace where they don’t have to worry about being robbed simply because they have worked hard all their lives and been blessed with good fortune. n

Greg Rummo is a syndicated columnist. Read all of his columns on his homepage, www.GregRummo.com. E-Mail Rummo at  GregoryJRummo@aol.com