blah, blah, blah

10 % tax cut, so how will the local communities make up the difference when they are asking for help from the state?? More layoffs, less services the list is endless!! Unless you happen to live in one of those urban blighted (get out your dictionary) towns!! Hey folks, it isn't going to get any better!! Some of us are trapped in the Garden State with the exit fee when someone decides to retire to another state..

The Governor coninues to do a great job......

Until you stop the politics everywhere, nothing will change!! There is so much dirty politics that going on. Students are violated by role models in an Authority position every day and they have no choice and neither does the parent who complains. It is happening in all the schools including the exceptional schools. It is all a bunch of baloney. I do not care how many reforms you have in, if you have school officials who are going to lie and cheat all involved with the exception of their own home grown.

The tax cuts will be paid with all the extra money coming from the tolls Christie just raised 50%! Yes he raised them. Corzine is no longer our governor.

Corzine isn't? Oh thats right...he is under investigation for stealing a few billion dollars.

I still want to know what kind of pay cut the governor took? Also were his benefits reduced or does he need to pay more into them? He did it to the public employees, well what about him and ALL NJ politicans taking a pay cut and paying more into their benefits?

IF (Big IF) the sate ever has excess funds__-they should be used to pay down the State's debt___not used for tax cuts. WE got into this mess because Whitman wanted to give away money to get votes, so she began the Homestead Rebate program and the State has been in debt ever since then. Paying Down debt should be Christi's main concern.

The toll increase that Christie ALLOWED to go into effect did more to HURT NJ and make it LESS attractive as a State to do Business in. Why Mr. Christie should any business locate their business in NJ and pay high these tolls to use the major roads when there are no tolls in NC or SC??? High NJ Turnpike tolls only serve to make NJ less attractive also Mr. Christie.

roads bridges are almost the worst if not the worst in the nation even town roads but thats ok NJ is on its way back .Fat GUY in a little coat is out of his tree . i think of him when i hit my next pot hole and when i get a great big extra $80.00 back from my income tax while the millionaire gets back thousands ... come on election day !!!

To all who use these toll roads and now raised tolls of 50 % , we thank you for the donations..Yes , because of you hard working, forced to take these roads as you have no choice , CC is going to give ALL a 10 % DECREASE on NJ State taxes.....so few who do for so many the top 1 % won't thank you , we the 99 % will...Thank you ..NUTS !

I would like my taxes cut as much as the next person but the fact is that for families making 50k-100k/year, the proposed cut would not amount to much ($50-$100) while those making over $1 million/year would see a hug cut in the dollar amount of their taxes. I'd rather see the State pay more of its current pension obligations now (nothing contributed during the govs first year and only 1/6 of the required amount in his second year) than keep kicking that can down the road and leave future taxpayers stuck with our bills.

Well people...YOU kept voting democrats in year after year and letting unions ride roughshod over us, so now its time to reap what you sow. Stop acting like crack addicts being weened off a several-decade long high and open your eyes.

To visit my daughter and son-in-law in Staten Island takes 1 hour 15 minute ride and now costs 20.70 in tolls alone. I see little advancement on the construction activity on the tpke additions at exit 7-7a and I travel different times of the day although the backup continues. The roads on NJ side to the bridge are a nitemare. According to NJ.com, a 3 percent drop in use of turnpike in first 5 days of new year (although more of drop was predicted). I know Corzine put this increase into effect; but I can't believe that a current inseat governor can't take some action. $21.00 to drive 42 miles on paid highway/bridges and I don't have to pay this everyday like those who commute to and from NY to NJ. Yet, the Tacony Palmyra bridge into Phila is $2.00. $12.00 to SI and 2.00 to Phila?

The legislature has been controlled by who for how many years now???? Democrats! The Governor, D or R, is not solely responsible for the financial mess NJ is in. How about saving money by not providing services to Illegals and holding businesses accountable for hiring them? Why do we provide fee healthcare to them? All the costs are passed down to LEGAL residents (citizens) through higher health insurance premiums, taxes etc. They're out buying filet mignon while we're clipping coupons. Yes, keep on voting the Dems into the legislature and keep perpetuating the welfare state!

(USA) 1/12 - GLOBAL INTERNET VOTING FIRM BUYS U.S. ELECTION RESULTS REPORTING FIRM - By Bev Harris
Permission to reprint granted, with link to http://www.blackboxvoting.org

In a major step towards global centralization of election processes, the world's dominant Internet voting company has purchased the USA's dominant election results reporting company.

When you view your local or state election results on the Internet, on portals which often appear to be owned by the county elections division, in over 525 US jurisdictions you are actually redirected to a private corporate site controlled by SOE software, which operates under the name ClarityElections.com.

The good news is that this firm promptly reports precinct-level detail in downloadable spreadsheet format. As reported by BlackBoxVoting.org in 2008, the bad news is that this centralizes one middleman access point for over 525 jurisdictions in AL, AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, KY, MI, KS, IL, IN, NC, NM, MN, NY, SC, TX, UT, WA. And growing.

As local election results funnel through SOE's servers (typically before they reach the public elsewhere), those who run the computer servers for SOE essentially get "first look" at results and the ability to immediately and privately examine vote details throughout the USA.

In 2004, many Americans were justifiably concerned when, days before the presidential election, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell redirected Ohio election night results through the Tennessee-based server for several national Republican Party operations.

This is worse: This redirects results reporting to a centralized privately held server which is not just for Ohio, but national; not just USA-based, but global.

A mitigation against fraud by SOE insiders has been the separation of voting machine systems from the SOE results reports. Because most US jurisdictions require posting evidence of results from each voting machine at the precinct, public citizens can organize to examine these results to compare with SOE results. Black Box Voting spearheaded a national citizen action to videotape / photograph these poll tapes in 2008.

With the merger of SOE and SCYTL, that won't work (if SCYTL's voting system is used). When there are two truly independent sources of information, the public can perform its own "audit" by matching one number against the other.

These two independent sources, however, will now be merged into one single source: an Internet voting system controlled by SCYTL, with a results reporting system also controlled by SCYTL.

With SCYTL internet voting, there will be no ballots. No physical evidence. No chain of custody. No way for the public to authenticate who actually cast the votes, chain of custody, or the count.

SCYTL is moving into or already running elections in: the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, India and Australia.

SCYTL is based in Barcelona; its funding comes from international venture capital funds including Nauta Capital, Balderton Capital and Spinnaker.

Here is the link to the press release regarding SYCTL's acquisition of SOE:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scytl-acquires-soe-software-becoming-the-leadin g-election-software-provider-2012-01-11

quote:"In 2007...the top 250 companies in the world had sales in excess of $14.7 trillion...an amount exceeding the GDP [Gross Domestic Product] of the United States or the European Union, $13.2 trillion and $13.7 trillion, respectively...combined sales of the top five (Wal-Mart, Exxon-Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and General Motors) was nearly $1.5 trillion -- larger than the GDP of all but seven countries." -- Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making, by David Rothkopf

Apparently the NJ public school system has not done its job correctly because nobody seems to understand the concept of the income tax. Allow me to simplify, the more you make the more you pay (BTW, that's a simple fact of percentages). Inversely, when you reduce the amount charged the less you pay the smaller the percentage of what you get back. The problem here is everybody wants somebody else to pay their share that's why our income tax becomes progressive and then you end up with wealth flight. Hey, the median income for teachers in NJ with benefits is at about $100,000/year and yet nobody seems to be able to put 2 and 2 together when it comes to income taxes.
Tax Question: with 47% of wage earners paying no federal income tax, who then IS carrying the federal income tax burden?

He's using Obama's excuse by blaming other countries.
We are all very aware of how we have lost jobs in New Joisey.
it's been a bipartisan job to make living, running a business
in this Soprano State for many many many years ...
Both parties in Ocean County, but particularly those who
like Christie sell out to the big contributors on our environment
and by using jobs for building in open space and areas
that have had a negative impact on our lives ... try living
in some areas where property taxes for living on a lagoon
are insane ... NJ the best place to run from if we can sell?

As often said "actions speak louder than words"
Let's see how the municipalities get to go ahead with
tax cap increases ... loop holes abound.

Ahhhh... more teacher bashing! Please let me know where you got the figure for "average teacher" package in NJ $100,000.00. Fail statistics or ethics?

I can't get over the fact that this Bully can get away with his Antics. The idea to have Charter schools compete with public schools for state aid is so aggravating.
How can we just let this happen before our eyes...we vote & speak out but nobody listens....he has a school district in South Jersey accepting students from another district without paying to attend. The accepting school receives state aid to subsidize the added cost, the school can expell the student by Oct 15 or around that date & Keep all monies and does NOT have to reimburse the state or the district the student came from...am I missing something here...this is just unacceptable on Sooo many levels...

"Will the last one to leave New Jersey, please turn out the lights"
Jim Gearhart (not sure if he originated the quote)
This has been a long-standing joke. It describes the phenomenon that has been happening in New Jersey for a long time. The tax system in this State is disproportionately hard on the middle class and even more so the working poor. The property tax system needs to be replaced. However, we should not do this until we fix the financial problem that is education. Education reform is the key to the whole crisis. Let us not make the mistake to let this be characterized as an attack on teachers; it is indeed a noble profession. We need to put the blame for the out of control costs and the substandard results squarely on the system itself. The system is overloaded with government at every level. What we need to do is to block grant every child, empowering parents to make the decision on where to send their child to school. Schools then compete for the students, offering the most creative and effective schooling for the lowest cost possible. Good old American competition. I have news for you; Teachers will be happier as well. They might have to trade in their pensions for a 401k match, but their day to day job will be more satisfying. They will no longer be stuck teaching in a broken system. I think most would take that trade. Not to mention they will no longer have to belong to a Te@chers Uni@n shhhh… someone might be watching…

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100…

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7..

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do..

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20″. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).

The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,”but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!”

That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back, when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Teachers union Smeachers union...just there to collect the dues & arrange for the yearly getaway to Atlantic City...Forget the competition nonsense, teacher re-evaluation reform. There are retired Union delegates representing the teachers??Speaking about how they are not in favor of it & to work as a whole in a district to help acheive the goals. Seriously, I have had a front row seat on a session , it is very disturbing.

Oscar: If they drink overseas, they'll be closer to the manufacturing plants of the corporations they've so patriotically invested in.

<"Our economy suffers while Washington politicians – in both parties – fiddle. America’s position of strength and leadership around the world deteriorates while our leaders bicker and blame. Over the last two years New Jersey did the exact opposite. We achieved results because we did it together," Christie said.>
I do remember CC bickering and blaming since day one. Come on election day. I used to have children in my neighborhood scared because of what they heard this politician saying on tv. Out of the mouths of babes.

When so many have lost business and with operating
costs hitting record levels ... fuel, energy, fixed costs like
rental contracts what good is 10% on income ...
many that I have conferred with have dropped to minus 60-70%
in their business income ... sad very sad state with
any Governor so connected to the GOP political machine
and the wealthy high income sleaze bags in the party ...
Rino's if there ever were?

"Tax Question: with 47% of wage earners paying no federal income tax, who then IS carrying the federal income tax burden?"

Few things that irk me more than this argument. The implication is that lower income earners are unfairly getting a free ride. This argument is either intellectually dishonest or nondiscerning. Here's why I say this...

First, Federal Income Tax is only one tax out of many taxes that we all are burdened with; and it is designed to be a progressive tax. Other types of tax - e.g.; sales tax, FICA /Medicare tax, property tax, state income tax, gas tax - most are regressive, some are flat, only NJ income tax is progressive.

Secondly, taxes paid are only one component of the truer measurement - financial net worth. When one looks at this measurement, one sees a trend that tilts steeply in favor of the top 1%. There are many sources for these stats, but the trend says that from around 1980 until present, that the percentage of wealth held by the top 1% has increased significantly, and that the percentage of wealth held by the bottom 80% has decreased significantly. So one should ask - How much worse would this trend be if the Federal Income Tax code was NOT what it is?

Here is my (admittedly lame) analogy....Stating that FIT is unfair to high income earners, and a free ride for low income earners is like Donald Trump (billionaire) claiming that it is unfair that Pete (thousand-aire, with a penny jar on the counter) has more pennies than him.

Thomas ...I hear you, however,I'm not blaming teachers at all, there is teaching in a school district then there is teaching in the abbot districts, trying to reach a child who's cultural background differs from the norm in America, and understanding the parental involvemnet or lack thereof. Teaching to pass a test or teaching "the" test to acheive the "No child left behind" quotas. This is all of no benefit to anyone until there is teacher evaluation reform and a system that can reward the "good" teachers and weed out the "bad", tenured, looking to retire & not give a sh--- attitude types.
To allow the firing of those who do nothing to better their techniques in the classroom or to update themselves to modern times in the classroom. Grades are getting worse because you have school administrators in their 60's & 70's" still working!!!!!!!Go figure,
making well over $100,000.00 a year administrating their bank accounts, not caring about curricullum, students, teachers Yada yada yada

How much will senior citizens save if they only have social security benefits and a small pension totalling $25,000 to $35,000. They probably don't pay any tax now. Maybe the Governor should increase property tax rebates for them. That could help. And if there is no property tax involved, maybe a tax credit for rent paid.

Here is the answer to all your questions...

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/11/chart-of-the-day-1.html

PS - yeah, the congress is full of socialist commie czars. What a laugh!

Ok people relax. This thread is getting a little too feisty and people are starting to lose perspective and take things personally.

Instead of focusing on what we do NOT agree on, can we try to focus on what we DO agree on? For example, our states tax structure is a train wreck across the income scale. Governors and Legislatures of both parties since the early 1990's have mismanaged our state finances and organizational structure to the point where our state is on the verge of collapsing onto itself like Greece did.

Many of you disagree with how Governor Christie is trying to fix the problem. I hear you and I get it. He is not going to please everyone and is going to piss people off.

What realistic ideas do you have to fix our state? Please don't suggest we just tax anyone with a job to pay for the broken promises and crushed dreams from past politicians. Assuming we could turn the other cheek on those who got us into this mess, how do you propose we move forward to fix it?

I won't attack you, I promise. I genuinely want to hear you thoughts. Even you disagree with mine. It is through the perspectives of others that we better ourselves.

Christie would never admit New Joisey is a welfare state ...
back many years ago ... 40+ folks who migrated here to work
to farms figured out it was best to go on welfare and the dole ...
both parties have pandered to the wealthy developers and
the socialist minded who believe the government owes them
salaries, benefits and of course healthcare while watching
OPRA channel ... sounds bias, it's not it's a fact.
Folks of our inner cities have been trapped by a system that
has leaned to the extreme LEFT and social beliefs - rules.
Too bad the English back in the 16th Century figured out
they could tax for roads (among everything else).
I thought we withdrew from merry old England???

Reducing taxes is welcomed by all; however, given that NJ has the highest property taxes nationwide, why don't we focus on reducing property taxes first especially in light of the fact that home values have been falling while tax rates continue to creep higher? A proposal in this regard would do a lot more to spark a housing rebound and add much needed jobs to the economy...and, as we know, more jobs typically adds more tax revenue!

Property taxes are the most REGRESSIVE tax in the world and yet the progressive DemocRATS and lying RepubliCANTS both protect that and the staus quo

Eliminate income taxes altogether. This government is corrupt to its very core. Ron Paul 2012.

Chris Cristie for president.. Id vote for him in a minute. Everyone wants changes and he has made the only positive changes in years for our state. Next is the US...Remember folks, positive changes are sometimes painful for a short period. But we will all benefit in the end.

New Jersey can start to heal and grow when corrupt and arrogant, union-backed Democrats are forced out of office. The poster boys for everything wrong with this country and this state are the twin failures: Obama and Corzine

Glad to see my fellow friends are having the same arguments in NJ that my peers in MI have. Mr. Snyder has done to MI what Mr. Christie has done for NJ, made it a shining star in light of all the BS our federal guys do. Both of these men have done what needed to be done, hold everyone accountable, make sure we increase the overall growth of the state by making it attractive for business to come to the state. If people would just take a moment and understand how Rome failed you will learn that you can only live off the milk of the cow until the cow dries up. Does everyone really believe the current systems work. No, the numbers could not stand 20 years ago when people believed they should be given pensions and health care for life. But again everyone wants to be taken care of by someone else, and we know where that got Rome. Great job Mr. Christie, you make me proud to have my summer home in your state as you have protected my investment and my kids future. (as a side note do any of you know the common thread in the top 10 poorest cities for the past 25 years)

Don't fool yourselves. This 10% tax cut is not coming for you and me. Christie is pandering to the very well-off. That tax cut is coming in lay-offs and fees that only the middle classs pays for. Like when he was elected and promised no new taxes, however, every NJ commuter saw a 25-30% increase in their monthly ticket costs. Do the math. New Jersey has a 9.1% unemployment rate, which means less money going to the treasury and more benefit spending to help the unemployed survive. Add to that the financial analysts are expecting a rough 2012. Now is not the time to cut taxes and reduce revenue to our state treasury. He's using our future, to support his future for higher office.

Blood was spent by our forefathers to obtain freedom. Taxes are the price we pay to maintain it. Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. An interesting history lesson on US Taxes by a conservative financial website. http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-tax-rates

frank schureman which positive change has christie given us? a 50% tax hike just to get to work? the price of everything delivered by truck including gas skyrocketing because of that alone. the $400 million dollar mistakes filling out a form/ the riding the tea cup ride in disneyworld while nj was crippled for a week by the dec 26th blizzard/ the helicopter rides to junior's game and vowing to veto any 3% tax hike on millionaires. ? frankie you remind me of that movie "invasion of the body snatchers" pod people trying to convince normal people to become pod people too.

dramatic changes in public employee pension and health benefits, education reform, the approval of 23 new charter schools, stood up to the unions, reforms designed to curb property tax costs, eliminated the costly auto inspection policy.. That filled up my hand :)

"capping property tax increases" - Clearly, Governor Christie does not live in Brick!

The purpose of the Corzine toll hike was to fund the building of the new tunnel project to New York. Since Gov. Christie cancelled the project entirely, one would think a TOLL HIKE ROLLBACK would be appropriate. How about it Gov????

It's Christie Whitman reincarnated as a man!

Politics is the profession to be in today. They all make out like bandits and write their own tickets, behind closed doors. The taxpayers get to vote on nothing that affects them. They make bunches of promises that they know they are unable to keep. Christie knew of the new 1/1/2012 turnpike and GSP toll increases on the books from LOSER Corzine and did NOTHING to stop or reduce them. They all continue to spend more than they take in. The taxpayer is the victim and the bottomless pit. So they think.

...they Christie and the Democrats just eliminated voting on school budgets. . . that was required by law. . .the best part of the bill is the introduction: "Reform Measure Will Allow Voters to Take Control of Local Finances, Save Money" What double talk!

I take heart in the fact that the majority the respondents feel as I do.Christie is just another POLITICIAN. They can all dish out a bunch of hollow promises and not have to fulfill a one of them, They are all cut from the same mold, The only people who matter to them are themselves. They will promise anything to protect their sweet little positions and power. When was the last time any of them mentioned their costituency? It seems to be a dirty word to them. Just remember all of the liars at election time folks. Thank you all.

Christie reform education?... you mean be putting partisan political control in schools, by allowing take over with November elections? Thereby raising taxes through pay to play (not kids sports) when giving out those lucrative professional contracts? You mean allowing school budgets under the 2% cap to be automatically approved with out any vote. Oh, that will save taxes! Not! Citizens who believe that are idiots. Your taxes will go up drastically! First the automatic 2% plus all the bonding debt service, emergency appropriations, health and pension obligations maybe another 3%. You will be lucking to escape Christie's call for lower taxes with that 5% or more increase. Puke! Gag! First post here...will leave now....please turn off the lights .

@Donald, I don't know if I would say that I take heart in that others are as disgusted as I am but I wonder why most on here seem to think the same but yet this continues to go on as if money is washing up on the beaches. You are correct, they are all liars and we can't trust them especially Christie.

"Ron Paul for President."