New alliance to pursue 'sustainable tax reform' in N.J.
TRENTON -- A new alliance of business and civic leaders took aim Thursday at bad government and high taxes, promising to achieve what others have not -- make it less costly to live in New Jersey.
"We are going to turn up the heat on elected officials," said Jerry Cantrell, president of a group called the New Jersey Taxpayer Association.
The new group is to be named the New Jersey Taxpayers Alliance, heralded as "a nonpartisan, grass-roots organization dedicated to achieving real and sustainable tax reform."
Pressed for specifics about their plan, Cantrell said, "We haven't reached that point yet."
"Alone, any like-minded group does not have the political clout to pressure the governor and the Legislature," Cantrell said. "Together, a broad-based alliance would have the power to defeat the status quo."
The group set lofty goals, from significant cuts in state spending to a ban on new taxes or fees, from voter approval of state debt to rolling back the increase in the marginal tax rate on the rich.
Eliminate estate tax
The group also seeks to erase the state's estate tax. It wants a long-term vision. It wants government and school districts to make purchases centrally. And the real harpoon to the status quo is a demand for "term limits for all elected officials."
There was no reaction from the administration of Gov. Jon S. Corzine.
The alliance includes representatives from restaurants, retailers, gasoline stations, education-reform advocates and business and industry.
Dan Gaby, for instance, is executive director of a group called Excellent Education for Everyone.
He said that while per-pupil spending, adjusted for inflation, has doubled over 30 years, "Academic results have not risen in response to that massive spending. ... Scores are about where they were in 1978."
"You have the worst tax climate for business in the country," said Joshua Culling of the National Taxpayers Union in Washington. "You have the worst tax load in the country for private citizens."
Culling cited studies saying the state has the worst property tax, third highest income tax, tenth worst sales tax and the "the largest state and local tax burden in the country, at 11.8 percent of income."