Cut expenses, NJ. Don’t raise taxes.

I spent all but the last four years of my life in New Jersey, and I have to say, I’m glad I’m not there any more. Not that I dislike the people specifically—there are just too many of them. Not that I like the state–it’s just too expensive. Taxes are too high. Sure, salaries are high, but so is the cost of living in the areas where I want to live. So here I am, in Richmond, VA, reading about the state of NJ shutting down because Gov. Corzine (the millionaire businessman) and the state legislature (many of whom are also millionaire businessmen) can’t agree on a budget. Because Corzine wants to raise the sales tax from 6% to 7%, instead of, say, cutting the bloated government of New Jersey, where I believe the number of public employees now outnumbers private employees.

And gee, this sounds so encouraging:

In an address to the state Legislature earlier in the morning, Corzine announced that he had put a new compromise on the table to end the budget stalemate with Roberts. The two have had a long stand-off with Corzine over the governor’s plan to raise the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent.

Aides to the governor said Corzine has offered a new plan that would provide 50 percent of the sales tax increase to property tax relief each year if voters approve it in a constitutional amendment. Using a constitutional amendment would mean lawmakers would be forced to use half the sales tax for property tax relief even if there is a big budget crunch. Roberts had wanted 100 percent of the sales tax increase dedicated to property tax reform.

Let me explain to non-New Jerseyans what the fictional “property tax rebate” is. Every year, instead of lowering taxes, the legislature keeps taxes high and “rebates” to homeowners (and renters) a portion of their property taxes. Now, ask the average citizen this question: Would you rather have $500 of your own money now, or would you rather give it to the government, wait a year, and then get it back?

What would YOU say?

And yet, not a single New Jersey politician has managed to find the stones to tell the taxpayers of NJ that the “property tax rebate” is a hoax. It has always been a hoax. Taxes in New Jersey don’t go down. The budget in NJ doesn’t go down.

At the heart of the conflict is Corzine’s demand for a sales tax hike to 7 percent, to fill a $1.1 billion hole in the budget. Roberts and other Assembly Democrats call the sales tax discriminatory.

Corzine, a former Wall Street executive, insists a sales tax hike will do the least harm to the economy. But he also has framed his position as a stand against the fiscal policies of the past, which have been blamed for putting wealthy New Jersey in a precarious fiscal position, with one of the highest debt loads of any state.

This is actually true. New Jersey had a Republican governor and a Republican legislature under Christie Whitman. They had the same thing under Tom Kean. Sixteen years of Republican government bloated the budget like, well, like they were Democrats. Although many conservatives say that New Jersey Republicans really are Democrats by another name. The other trend in New Jersey has been to elect millionaires to the top office. Kean, Whitman, Corzine—not a one of them ever used coupons growing up, I’m sure.

But the people of New Jersey are in a lose-lose situation. Because here’s what the Star Ledger’s editorial staff thinks makes a good compromise:

Instead of placing the $550 million in a fund that wouldn’t be tapped for year, why not add that to the property tax rebates this year?

In other words, here they go again.

At least Virginia is still cheaper than New Jersey. My part of it, anyway.