LGBT+ allies should monitor calls for violence within their community

By Rubashov

People make more of words than of actions. A councilman in Hopatcong gets a headline in the Star-Ledger for angrily complaining about the $8 million in cuts to children’s education in his town.

Apparently, nobody is interested enough to take the man behind the most recent cuts – Governor Phil Murphy – to task. Cuts to education are simply accepted, even though they represent an historic case of bait-and-switch. Back when the income tax was proposed, voters were promised that if they accepted the income tax, their property taxes would go down. Instead, government promptly reneged on its promise and voters got higher property taxes on top of the new income tax.

So now New Jersey has one of the highest income taxes in America and the nation’s highest property taxes. But that’s not a story. Somebody complaining about it is.

Oh, but they’ll argue, that naughty councilman used “bad” words. Wow. What year is this? We thought America got past its puritan obsession with “bad” language back in the 1960s. Didn’t comedian George Carlin cure us of all that? He’s the funny guy who got up on stage and read out a whole list of “bad” words that you couldn’t say – but he did – and in doing so, broke the taboo. But it looks like the taboo is back.

And speaking of comedians…

Jimmy Dore is a comedian and a Left-wing political activist. Dore was a big supporter of Bernie Sanders for President in 2016 and 2020.

In the aftermath of actor Will Smith’s attack on comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars, Dore noted that members of the “trans” and LGBTQ+ “communities” targeted comedian Dave Chappelle in social media statements advocating violence against him. And, of course, we all know that recently such violence actually happened.

Dore points out that some of these social media statements got more than 50,000 “likes” but were not removed – even though they targeted someone with violence. Which is kind of what is happening to some of America’s Supreme Court Justices on the basis of a leaked draft.

Is this what happens when you are so certain that you are right? Is violence – political violence – the child of certainty?

NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt: 20 reasons to Vote Republican on Tuesday

Over on the New Jersey Globe website, editor David Wildstein assures us that New Jersey is still a two-party state, with the caveat that the GOP might not be one of those two parties. Wildstein’s words must be taken seriously, for whatever his faults, he has a laudable record as a campaign manager and operative. He even managed to get elected himself.

Under Governor Chris Christie, the New Jersey Republican Party functioned as a kind of cult of personality. If you were around for earlier GOP administrations, you would have recognized the difference. So far as legislative seats are concerned, this didn’t work all that well even while Christie was Governor.

Post-Christie, New Jersey Republicans have suffered from a crisis of identity. This has been exacerbated by two things. The first, of course, is Donald Trump – the face of the national Republican Party. Many New Jersey Republicans don’t know how to explain him or fit even the positive aspects of his hegemony into a local narrative. They got out of the habit of having big vision ideas or policies – so that they can’t even effectively change the subject.

This brings us to the second… the rise of South Jersey Democrats as a kind of opposition party to the Democrats of Governor Phil Murphy. As they did with the so-called “Clean Elections” gambit, they pose as “reformers” who are “pro-business” and “pro-taxpayer” – with watchwords like “efficiency”. In reality, they are an old-world political machine, fueled by crony capitalism and soft corruption (at the very least). Their model is the one-party state, with a relationship between political power and business that resembles something out of Red China… or National Socialist Germany.

But at least they have ideas and policies, many of which are attractive to business, so they occupy an alternative ground to the Murphy Democrats’ collectivist and confiscatory impulses. On social issues they are equally disreputable. Their refusal to post the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act for a vote shows that they monetize anything to please a supplicant corporate interest. Just keep the money flowing… and suffer the children.

Which brings us to a post over the weekend on Matt Rooney’s Save Jersey website. In it, NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt provides an outline of why voters should choose Republican candidates over Democrats this coming Tuesday.

It really is a good list, and Matt did a great service publishing it. With due acknowledgement to Matt and to Chairman Steinhardt, we are re-publishing it below:

State Republican Chairman Doug Steinhardt

#20: New Jersey Has The Worst Foreclosure Rate In The U.S.
Phil Murphy and Democrats have had full control of the state house for 2 years now. Their liberal agenda has produced the highest foreclosure rate in the country. New Jersey is too expensive, and Phil Murphy, who said “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state,” is too aloof, for hard working families to afford their homes. This is the danger of one-party rule in Trenton.

#19: Governor Murphy Tried To Steal Money From Firefighter Burial Fund
The NJGOP is proud to fight alongside New Jersey’s first responders, especially after their Governor tried to pay for his laundry list of liberal handouts by stealing $33 million from the Firemen’s Association burial fund. And even though his screwball scheme failed, Phil Murphy’s last second retreat can’t erase his blatant disregard for the hard working men and women who risk their lives to protect our lives. New Jersey voters should be shocked and appalled, but then, hey, this is the same Governor who, last week, said, “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.” You shouldn’t be our Governor either, and your Party’s policies are killing our State.

#18: New Jersey Has The Lowest Mainland US GDP Growth
Governor Murphy’s job-killing regulations and ever-expanding tax burden is leaving New Jersey’s economy hobbled and lagging behind the rest of mainland America. While the US economy is booming, New Jersey is failing. Trenton needs business-minded conservatives to bring a common sense check to Governor Murphy’s unbalanced budget.

#17: Phil Murphy Blew The Amazon Bid
Just weeks after New Jersey Democrats passed Phil Murphy’s billion plus dollar tax hikes, Amazon passed on New Jersey and put its HQ2 in New York and Virginia. Governor Murphy’s liberal lunacy cost thousands of well-paying jobs and a chance to revitalize our state’s biggest city. But this is the same Governor who maintains, “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.”

#16: Phil Murphy’s Online Sales Tax
Phil Murphy calls New Jersey a high tax for high value state, but Democrats are squeezing out what little value is left. If it walks, talks, ships, shoots, rides, drives, eats or roots, New Jersey’s daft Democrats devise a devilish way to tax it. Under the Murphy Administration, New Jersey residents now pay an internet sales tax. But, this is the same Governor who says, “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.”

#15: NJ Transit Fail
If a good executive keeps the trains running on time, Phil Murphy isn’t – good. New Jersey Transit is rated among the least reliable nationally. And even though Governor Murphy has the power to change it, he can’t. That’s because he’s more interested in liberal headlines than commuter wait times. People spend more time commuting than they do with their families. The system is so bad that even Democrats are investigating Murphy’s abject failure.

#14: Hiring Corrupt Officials
We should be throwing corruption out of government, not welcoming it back in. When Governor Murphy hired into his administration a former public official convicted of taking bribes, he called it the new normal. Never! The bar should never be so low. At a time when we should be building the public’s trust in government, Phil Murphy is tearing it down.

#13: Sky Blue Soccer Scandal
Governor Murphy preaches public equality, but fails miserably to practice it privately. As the owner of a women’s soccer team, Phil Murphy oversaw a team that was so badly treated that the Star Ledger equated the player’s conditions to a sweatshop. These professional women were housed in impoverished conditions, played without simple resources, like locker-room showers, and refused payment on their medical bills. That’s not stronger and fairer, that’s weaker and poorer.

#12: Legal Aid For Illegal Immigrants
The NJGOP will not ignore Governor Murphy while he scoffs at federal immigration laws for the sake of his personal political agenda. He has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars into state sponsored legal aid for illegal immigrants while hardworking, middle-class New Jersey residents miss another opportunity for tax relief. But this is the same Governor who says, “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.

#11: So-Called Free College
Phil Murphy’s promise of free college tuition is the classic political bait and switch. He dangles the feels-good carrot of “free education”, then beats New Jersey’s already battered taxpayers with his tax hike stick. Two years of free tuition for a lifetime of tax increases isn’t a bargain. It’s another bad deal that New Jersey can’t afford. Then again, all this is from a Governor who said, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your State.” That’s not leadership Governor. It’s what millionaires say to the middle class.

#10: Sanctuary State
Phil Murphy can’t pay for his progressive platitudes with the health, safety and welfare of New Jersey families. The Governor and the Attorney General should encourage cooperation between law enforcement agencies at all levels. Instead, they weaponize the Attorney General’s office and are taking aim at our County Sheriffs. Millions of innocent New Jerseyans depend on law enforcement to keep them safe from predators, drug dealers and violent criminals, but Phil Murphy will ignore them for a progressive headline.

#9: Worst Employment Rate In The Region
America’s economy is booming and our neighboring states are thriving, but New Jersey lags behind. Evidence continues to mount that New Jersey is teetering on the edge of an economic meltdown, but Governor Phil Murphy is stuck in a tax and spend trance. He is oblivious to, or simply ignores, the State’s affordability crisis and the crippling effect it’s having on New Jersey families. That was on full display at Rowan College in October, when the Governor let slip, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your State.” If you want more blind, political indifference, elect more Democrats this November, but if you want honest answers to the State’s real problems, vote Republican.

#8: Largest out migration of retirees, businesses and residents
Governor Murphy’s radical, liberal policies aren’t just emptying wallets, they’re emptying nests. More jobs and people are leaving New Jersey than any other State in America. Millionaire Phil Murphy is so disconnected from New Jersey’s working and middle classes that he let slip that, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your State.” Trenton’s Democrats share Phil Murphy’s callous indifference, so if you want honest answers to the State’s real problems, elect Republicans.

#7: Highest property and income tax rates in the US
Phil Murphy inherited a state with high taxes, but he campaigned on a promise for a stronger and fairer New Jersey. In reality, his radical tax hikes and progressive platitudes make us weaker and poorer. His solution is to tell working and middle class families, who can’t afford his high tax agenda, to move. But why move when we can vote? We need leaders in Trenton who will have the courage to reduce the size of state government and create real tax relief. On November 5, vote Republican.

#6: Ride Share Tax
Ride sharing has revolutionized urban and suburban transportation. Innovative new companies like Uber and Lyft provide safe rides home, affordable transportation for people who don’t own a car, and help stop drunk driving. So, how does Governor Murphy reward successful new businesses providing valuable services? He taxes them! That’s Phil Murphy’s New Jersey. If you don’t like it or can’t afford it, he says you’re welcome to leave. Don’t like the choices? Vote Republican instead. We can do better.

#5: Second Amendment Attacks
Governor Murphy’s political obsession with appeasing the radical, anti-gun lobby can’t come at the expense, or from the pockets, of New Jersey’s law abiding citizens for simply exercising their Second Amendment right to own a firearm. In his haste to punish legal gun owners, he’s proven unwilling and unable to deal with the scourge of gun crime, opting instead to criminalize lawful gun ownership. Taxes, fees and laws must have a rational nexus to a legitimate government purpose, and not just be a back channel to pay for feel-good, liberal giveaways. No Governor is empowered to choose which constitutional rights matter and which don’t and where Phil Murphy will trample long standing rights in his quest to replace them, the NJGOP will fight alongside grassroots Republicans to defend those rights.

#4: Shore Rental Tax
This year, among Governor Phil Murphy’s multitude of new taxes, he signed a tax on Jersey Shore vacation rentals. The NJGOP called on the Governor to refund to the moms and pops who were forced to pay it, the money he was so quick to take. In response, he ignored us, and them. It seems this was just another Democrat money grab that hit hardest in communities still recovering from Superstorm Sandy.

#3: Second Most Miserable State
The most miserable state in the Union is California. Governor Murphy has said he wants New Jersey to be the California of the east. So, it’s no surprise we’re number two. Under Phil Murphy, New Jersey is the second most miserable state in America. People in New Jersey are struggling with affordability. We have the highest foreclosure rate, and one in four families goes hungry. So, when our Governor says that, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state,” it hurts. New Jerseyans need hope for a better tomorrow, but they won’t find it in our state’s Democrat Party. This year, vote for the party that still has New Jersey pride and honest answers to our state’s real problems. Vote Republican.

#2: Corporate Business Tax
New Jersey has the worst business climate in America. We lead the nation, not just in the outmigration of residents, but in the outmigration of jobs. We’ve suffered the exodus of leading corporations, like Honeywell and Gerber, who uproot and run for low cost states like North Carolina and Virginia. We even lost the bid for Amazon’s HQ2. When Governor Murphy hikes the corporate business tax by over $1 billion it signals to business owners that they can’t count on New Jersey for stability, predictability or affordability. But then this is the Governor who said, “If tax rate is your issue … whether you’re a business or an individual … we’re probably not your state.

#1: Rain Tax
A rainy day fund used to be what responsible government collected for emergencies. Not anymore. Not in New Jersey. And not under Governor Murphy. Today, it’s just another Democratic property tax and Trenton money grab. Instead of feeding your families, Phil Murphy’s rain tax scheme drains money from your pockets and pours it into Trenton’s coffers, to feed Murphy’s liberal agenda. None of that should come as a surprise, since the Governor let slip that, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.”

Please visit the Save Jersey website here: https://savejersey.com/2019/11/vote-republican-new-jersey-assembly-election-results-november-5th-doug-steinhardt/

What happens after Tuesday will determine whether this is a first step on the road to an actual party platform… or if it was a one-off, albeit a very strong and persuasive one. Stay tuned…

Repeal the income tax and provide quality education

By Professor Murray Sabrin

In a recent Star Ledger column conservative pundit Paul Mulshine argues that Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposal to increase the income tax to 10.75% for individuals making more than $1 million a year so he can hike property tax rebates is terribly flawed.  Right on. 

The property tax rebate would only available to a senior homeowner or a disabled citizen making no more than $75,000 annually.  In New Jersey that would exclude a substantial number of homeowners, even those who make $75,001. 

New Jersey's income tax, which was enacted at the end of Gov. Brendan Byrne’s first term in 1976, although politically unpopular, set the stage for the governor to send out property tax rebates in 1977 just before his reelection.  In short, the governor deftly used homeowners’ own money to bribe them to win a second term. This is a classic example of democracy in action – – fooling people that they're getting something from the state, when in fact what the state was doing was taking money from the people’s one pocket and putting it in their other pocket.

The current debate over hiking income taxes on millionaire earners and increasing property tax rebates underscores the fundamental issue that both political parties are unwilling to address, namely how education should be funded and who should pay for it.

Although the state Supreme Court effectively imposed the income tax on the people of New Jersey, because the New Jersey Constitution calls for the state to provide a "thorough and efficient education" to all students especially in urban school districts, with the promise of property tax relief, the more than four decade experiment in the income tax has been a colossal failure. 

The first question that needs to be tackled is who is responsible for a child's education?  In a free society that means parents using all the skills and tools and resources at their disposal would educate children up to a certain point, when schooling would become more appropriate. 

The current model of public—compulsory--education is nearly 200 years old.  At one time public schools did a relatively outstanding job of teaching youngsters the 3Rs so they could become productive and financially independent individuals.  Under the auspices of so-called educational experts, social justice cultural warriors and massive political interference, especially from the federal government, public schools have become “politically correct” institutions for the past several decades.  In addition, the cost of public education in New Jersey has skyrocketed well above the rate of inflation since the income tax was enacted more than four decades ago.

The results in New Jersey urban school districts, where the cost of education rivals that of elite private schools, have been abysmal. Unfortunately, the clamor for more taxpayer dollars to prop up the expensive and relatively ineffective urban school systems needs to be questioned.

The lessons of the past four decades regarding funding New Jersey public schools should be obvious to any objective observer. First, the income tax should be repealed.  Two, teachers and parents should create nonprofit educational organizations in their communities to provide high-quality education to youngsters from K-12.  In addition, school property taxes should be repealed as well. There is absolutely no compelling reason for taxes to fund education.  Funding would come from fees, tuition, grants and other voluntary means.

The assertion that education is a "collective" responsibility is a bogus proposition. If this assertion is true, then the state should not stop at education but provide healthcare, housing, transportation, supermarkets, entertainment, and all other goods and services that people want.  In other words, is socialism the answer as Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez assert? 

Socialism is not the answer whether in education, housing, transportation, medical care and the dozens of other programs that all levels of government currently fund.  In a free market both the nonprofit and profit sectors would provide all the goods and services the public wants. That has been the history of America for more than 200 years.  But government has co-opted the free market for decades. 

Gimmicks like property tax rebates to soothe the pain of income taxes are counterproductive. The state income tax has become a political football and avoids the most important question in our society: what is the role of government in a free society?

With another financial crisis on the horizon as the current "everything bubble" will burst in the not-too-distant future, it is imperative that we look at the big picture, how can we create a free and prosperous society with an educated young generation without an income tax?  This is the debate that should be front and center in Trenton.   

Murray Sabrin is professor of finance at Ramapo College and author of the forthcoming, Why the Federal Reserve Sucks: It Causes Inflation, Recessions, Bubbles and Enriches the One Percent.  Sabrin was recently interviewed about his new book, http://www.sanfranciscoreviewofbooks.com/2019/05/cottogottfried-does-federal-reserve.html#more

Regina Egea: Why can’t NJ do what Massachusetts did?

Regina Egea is one of the smartest thinkers on public policy in New Jersey.  An M.B.A., former AT&T executive, state Treasury Department official, and Governor’s Chief of Staff – Egea also served in local government as a Deputy Mayor and School Board Member.  As President of the Garden State Initiative, she is collecting the data, studying the issues, and coming up with solutions to New Jersey’s most pressing fiscal concerns.

For New Jersey Republicans, she’s a breath of fresh air in a political culture too often dominated by stale thinking.  If the NJGOP wants to seriously contest for power again, it will be folks like Regina Egea who will provide the policy prescriptions that will inform the narrative on why Republicans should be elected.

Egea recently wrote:  “It is clear that we are at our ‘fork in the road’ in New Jersey and there’s a clear path to improve our economy. Massachusetts decided a generation ago to shed its ‘Taxachussetts’ label and cut its taxes by 25% between 1977 and 2014 while growing its economy and maintaining a public school system at the top of national rankings at a lower cost per pupil than New Jersey… we need leadership now willing to make the necessary reforms to reduce spending in Trenton and throughout New Jersey governments before ‘it’s over.’”

Below are excerpts from Regina Egea’s op-ed published yesterday in the Star-Ledger and on NJ.com:

“New Jersey… is losing income tax revenue. Using 2015-16 IRS data, the Bank of America analysis indicates that high tax states – such as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California – are currently experiencing a net loss of high income earners (defined by the Internal Revenue Service). Florida, which has no state income tax, experienced a net gain of over $17 billion in income between 2015 and 2016… In this same time period, New Jersey experienced a loss of approximately $3 billion.”

“The research firm Wealth X reported New Jersey lost 5,700 people with liquid assets between $1 million-$30 million in 2018 – and that’s before the implications of the state and local tax (SALT) cap on federal taxes have truly been felt.”

“The Bank of America also references a February TheHill.com article citing U.S. Census data that states growing in population are usually ‘the same states with lower tax and regulatory burdens, lower government debt and greater transparency and accountability for government spending.’”

“Ironically, New Jersey is turning being home to a relatively high number of ‘millionaires’ into a strategic vulnerability. The top 2 percent of all N.J. income tax filers (who make more than $500,000 per year) account for over 40 percent of all income tax revenue to the state. Since close to 40 percent of state revenues are from personal income taxes, that means more than a third of all state revenues come from the top 1 percent of residents. Increasing dependence on revenue from this group exacerbates our vulnerability. An individual loss in this income category reverberates throughout the state.”

“Now we’re at New Jersey’s ‘Fork in the Road.’ An example of one alternate path is just up I-95 in Massachusetts, where the highest marginal personal income tax rate is just 5 percent, compared to New Jersey where the rate is 10.75 percent (third-highest in the nation). Our second highest in the nation corporate income tax rate of 11.5 percent will inevitably lead to market share loss to not just Massachusetts’ 8 percent rate but other attractive states like North Carolina’s 2.5 percent rate, which helped to lure Honeywell from New Jersey.”

“Massachusetts solidly outflanks the Garden State when it comes to property taxes ($37 versus $51 per $1,000 of personal income) as well as the size of public workforces: theirs is 8 percent smaller than New Jersey.  And Massachusetts, whose annual K-12 education performance closely rivals New Jersey’s, spends nearly 20 percent less on a per pupil basis.”

To read Regina Egea’s entire op-ed, click the link below:

https://www.nj.com/opinion/2019/04/nj-is-at-a-fork-in-the-road-policy-group-says-its-time-to-take-the-less-taxing-path.html

For more information on the Garden State Initiative, explore their website:

https://www.gardenstateinitiative.org/

The first Karl Marx Collectivist award goes to…

By Dr. Murray Sabrin

After a year hiatus I will be posting at least twice a week. The tenacious push for more collectivism by public officials, pundits and yes, super wealthy Americans, needs to be challenged in every hamlet, town, city and state.  And, of course, we have to challenge the federal government’s 100+ year long march on “the road to serfdom.”

With this in mind, every week I will announce how an elected official or prominent private citizen has embraced one or more of Karl Marx’s Ten Planks to help create a full-blown collectivist society.

According to the laissez-fairerepublic.com website, the United States has adopted many components of Marx’s vision outlined in the Ten Planks, which have become mainstream policies.  You can determine for yourself how America has become a Marxist society by reading the evidence on the website.

1.    Abolition of private property in land and application of all rents of land to public purpose.

2.    A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

3.    Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

4.    Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5.    Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6.    Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the state.

7.    Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8.    Equal obligation of all to work.  Establishment of Industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9.    Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.

10.Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc.(There are additional collectivist planks that Marx did not include in his Manifesto—gun control/confiscation, single- payer healthcare, government retirement benefits, and the war on drugs.)  We thus should amend the 10 Planks to 14.

If you have suggestions for any additional collectivist policies that should be included in Marx’s Manifesto, please email them to me. 

The recipient of the first Karl Marx collectivist award goes to Mayor Bill de Blasio who stated in his State of the City address the other day:

“Here’s the truth, brothers and sisters, there’s plenty of money in the world. Plenty of money in this city. It’s just in the wrong hands!”

The Mayor’s statement is the essence of collectivism:  “From each according to his ability to each according to his needs.”

Based on his public remarks Mayor de Blasio is at least a 70-80% Marxist.  His support for income taxes, rent control, collectivist healthcare, public schools, massive government intervention in the marketplace, especially the workplace, and presumably the Federal Reserve, means de Blasio is a shameless advocate of “trickle-down economics.”

Trickledown economics is the essence of collectivism.  According to this notion, money will flow to the “right hands” if the government—the all-wise collective—has the power to confiscate, redistribute and control our lives to create a Utopia.

Make no mistake this is the battle for the soul of America in the 21st century. 

Lovers of liberty must reject every one of the 10/14 Planks. Supporting any of the 10/14 Planks will only embolden the collectivists who are taking America down the road to serfdom.

Next week the second Karl Marx awardee will be announced.  Guess who?

GOP for 2017: Abolish the State Income Tax

Why not?  The tax is a scam based on a lie.

It was passed on the promise of property tax relief... and then the Courts, that failsafe of the political and corporate establishment, got in on the action to redirect (steal) most of the money paid by suburban and rural taxpayers to urban political machines so that they can give generous tax breaks to their corporate co-conspirators.  Of course, they gave the poor as their reason for doing so and forty years later... New Jersey is facing a poverty explosion with the highest poverty levels in 50 years. 

So it wasn't done for the poor because the poor are still poor and there are more of them than ever before, but there are lots and lots of politicians who got very fat and very rich off the income tax scam and lots and lots of corporations that got millions in tax breaks because of it.  Why should suburban and rural taxpayers subsidize rich corporations and make corrupt political machines more powerful?

After 40 years, maybe suburban and rural taxpayers are tired of the scam, built on a lie?

After 40 years, maybe the urban poor are tired of having their hunger-wracked bodies used as a means to make the rich richer and the corrupt more powerful?

Maybe it is time for some truly revolutionary action like abolishing the state income tax?

Professor Murray Sabrin thinks so.  Here is his opinion column from today's Bergen Record/ NorthJersey.com:

Opinion: Why New Jersey should abolish the state income tax

JANUARY 27, 2016    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2016, 1:21 AM

BY MURRAY SABRIN

THE RECORD

NEW JERSEY'S motto, "Liberty and Prosperity," was adopted in 1777, a year after the colonists declared their independence. Although the state motto implies that New Jersey would be a free and independent state, the truth of the matter is that New Jersey's state government has adopted an anti-liberty agenda for decades.

In a free society, which is based upon a market economy, all participants make voluntary choices in order to improve their lives. I call this a Mutual Consent Society, where no one is coerced to buy or sell any good or service against their will. Isn't this the "American" way? The freedom to choose?

In other words, involuntary exchanges — theft, robbery, murder, etc. — which Frederick Bastiat identified as "illegal plunder" in his 1850 monograph, "The Law," are prohibited in a civilized society, because these acts violate the natural (property) rights of every individual in society.

Conversely, Bastiat then concluded that governments must not engage in "legal plunder," for the same reason individuals cannot engage in illegal plunder. They are acts of aggression and coercion. Bastiat identified legal plunder — progressive taxation and public schools, among other government polices — as detrimental to a harmonious society.

For Bastiat, the law (force) should not be used to force people how to live their lives and spend their money. Using the law to coerce people, argues Bastiat, negates the principle of justice and violates the rights of individuals.

Although most people across the political spectrum consider "public education" an indispensable institution in a democracy, the truth of the matter is that education has become a political football. Instead of providing students with the skills necessary to become independent thinkers, our public schools have become indoctrination centers.

In place of having a curriculum that focuses on basic skills, yes, the three Rs, K-12 public education has morphed into a cheering gallery for anti-free-enterprise propaganda, extolling the virtues of activist government policies to solve social problems.

Legal plunder

An income tax, whether it is progressive (tax rate increasing as incomes increase) or flat (one rate on all incomes, usually with a substantial standard deduction, making a flat tax somewhat progressive in reality), is a classic example of legal plunder, because it is a gross violation of private property.

In the 20th century, a stinging critique of progressive taxation by Frank Chodorov, "The Income Tax: Root of All Evil," was published. He argues that the so-called ability-to-pay doctrine is a pernicious assault on private property and undermines the productivity of the economy. Chodorov shows that the income tax, ironically, hurts poor people more than wealthy income earners, because taxation in general and the income tax specifically reduces the amount of capital in society and therefore job creation.

As far as New Jersey's 40-year income tax is concerned, it began in 1976 with only two rates, 2 percent and 2.5 percent, and was enacted to provide property tax relief and increase school aid. As the U.S. economy was on an upswing from the depths of the 1973 — 1975 recession, tax revenue flowed to Trenton, making Gov. Brendan Byrne's promise a reality.

Over the years, New Jersey's income tax has become more progressive. Currently, incomes less than $20,000 are taxed at 1.4 percent and incomes greater than $500,000 are taxed at 8.97 percent, a far cry from the relatively flat tax that was imposed in 1976.

The income tax was supposed to provide tax relief for all taxpayers but instead has turned into a massive redistribution of income from suburban taxpayers to urban school districts, courtesy of a series of state Supreme Court decisions calling for more state aid to provide a constitutionally mandated "thorough and efficient education" to all public school children.

Eliminate school funding

The reforms needed to create a Mutual Consent Society in New Jersey is clear: Abolish the state income tax and eliminate taxpayer funding for K–12 education and pre-K, so education decisions can be made by parents and provided by competent teachers instead of career bureaucrats in Washington and Trenton.

In addition, abolishing the income tax would provide the fuel for a more robust economy, the best anti-poverty program there is.

The wisdom of both Bastiat and Chodorov is more relevant today given the widespread legal plunder that exists in New Jersey and throughout the country. If the people of New Jersey want to live up to the state's motto, "liberty and prosperity," we must abolish the state income tax and return education decisions to parents and teachers.

Murray Sabrin is a professor of finance at Ramapo College.