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SAVE CHRISTMAS: Tell Trenton to Declare "Sales Tax Holiday"
Matt Rooney | November 16, 2009
A question for our elected hum bugs over in the New Jersey State House: would something benefiting taxpayers be too much to ask for during this much-discussed "lame duck" legislative session?
Christmas Day 2009 is only 38 days away, Save Jerseyans. Shortly, New Jersey Democrats will commence a lame duck session of the state legislature they control, and newspaper columnists, internet pundits, social activists and political prognosticators of all stripes are already busy offering their suggestions and predictions. This is the last chance for Carla Katz's ex-boyfriend (a.k.a. soon-to-be-former Governor Jon S. Corzine) to improve upon his -- and I'm being extraordinarily kind here -- uninspiring governing legacy. Consequently, this is an absolutely wonderful opportunity to give overtaxed New Jerseyans an early, yet long-desired, Christmas present for the ages: substantial tax relief heading into the Holiday Season!
But the suggestions I'm hearing out of Trenton, as of this writing, are positively inane! For example, do our legislators truly believe that legalizing medical marijuana is worthy of debate when New Jersey is teetering on the brink of complete financial collapse and our broken economy is in complete tatters? Sheesh! I think these hippies in Trenton would sooner smoke mistletoe if given the chance than place it in your stocking without a new tax attached! Pardon my cynicism, but you'll just have to forgive me for stubbornly contending that this is no time for resurrecting tired, played-out social policy debates.
Specifically, the gay marriage debate cannot be satisfactorily resolved through simple legislation so please take my advice and indefinitely shelve any further philosophical rancor over the definition of marriage. There ARE more pressing issues at hand that we can adequately address without delay. How's this for starters? Pretty soon, homosexual couples AND heterosexual couples won't be able to afford to maintain a business or a home anywhere in this state. The taxpayers are tired of divisive issues; they want action before it's too late to rescue New Jersey.
I only wish everyone in state politics felt that way! Jon Corzine and his allies in the State House just spent the better part of a decade wasting the taxpayers' time on selecting a state song, banning the death penalty, and dithering away countless precious hours while New Jersey's financial health wasted away. Now we're staring down the barrel at a $10 billion deficit, but the Dems still have one last chance to accomplish something useful before Governor-elect Christie forces them into action. Here's my suggestion: at the beginning of this lame duck session, the legislature should move immediately to institute a "sales tax holiday" spanning from Thanksgiving (November 26th) through the weekend immediately following New Year's Day (January 3rd).
This proposal is exactly what Assemblymen Vince Polistina and John Amodeo (R-Atlantic) championed last year. During a sales tax "holiday," the Garden State's Corzine-inspired 7% sales tax would be temporarily lowered to 3 ½%. In urban enterprise zones where the economic need is greatest, the state sales tax rate would dip from 3 ½% all the way down to 1.75% throughout the entirety of the year's biggest retail boom.
Yes, Virginia: Jon Corzine, Joe Roberts and Dick Codey can literally save Christmas by allowing holiday shoppers to save more money at their local mall's cash registers. That would lead to more Yuletide consumption and, at tax time, larger business tax revenues for Trenton's badly depleted coffers. This isn't rocket science, ladies and gentlemen! A flying reindeer could wrap its antlers around this math.
So com'on, Mr. Corzine. It's time to start acting like that other famous guy with the beard. A "white" Christmas be damned. You can lead the way and make New Jersey's Christmas very merry, bright and GREEN by supporting a statewide sales tax holiday!
FLASHBACK: N.J. Republicans Propose "Sales Tax Holiday" in October 2008
A question for our elected hum bugs over in the New Jersey State House: would something benefiting taxpayers be too much to ask for during this much-discussed "lame duck" legislative session?
Christmas Day 2009 is only 38 days away, Save Jerseyans. Shortly, New Jersey Democrats will commence a lame duck session of the state legislature they control, and newspaper columnists, internet pundits, social activists and political prognosticators of all stripes are already busy offering their suggestions and predictions. This is the last chance for Carla Katz's ex-boyfriend (a.k.a. soon-to-be-former Governor Jon S. Corzine) to improve upon his -- and I'm being extraordinarily kind here -- uninspiring governing legacy. Consequently, this is an absolutely wonderful opportunity to give overtaxed New Jerseyans an early, yet long-desired, Christmas present for the ages: substantial tax relief heading into the Holiday Season!
But the suggestions I'm hearing out of Trenton, as of this writing, are positively inane! For example, do our legislators truly believe that legalizing medical marijuana is worthy of debate when New Jersey is teetering on the brink of complete financial collapse and our broken economy is in complete tatters? Sheesh! I think these hippies in Trenton would sooner smoke mistletoe if given the chance than place it in your stocking without a new tax attached! Pardon my cynicism, but you'll just have to forgive me for stubbornly contending that this is no time for resurrecting tired, played-out social policy debates.
Specifically, the gay marriage debate cannot be satisfactorily resolved through simple legislation so please take my advice and indefinitely shelve any further philosophical rancor over the definition of marriage. There ARE more pressing issues at hand that we can adequately address without delay. How's this for starters? Pretty soon, homosexual couples AND heterosexual couples won't be able to afford to maintain a business or a home anywhere in this state. The taxpayers are tired of divisive issues; they want action before it's too late to rescue New Jersey.
I only wish everyone in state politics felt that way! Jon Corzine and his allies in the State House just spent the better part of a decade wasting the taxpayers' time on selecting a state song, banning the death penalty, and dithering away countless precious hours while New Jersey's financial health wasted away. Now we're staring down the barrel at a $10 billion deficit, but the Dems still have one last chance to accomplish something useful before Governor-elect Christie forces them into action. Here's my suggestion: at the beginning of this lame duck session, the legislature should move immediately to institute a "sales tax holiday" spanning from Thanksgiving (November 26th) through the weekend immediately following New Year's Day (January 3rd).
This proposal is exactly what Assemblymen Vince Polistina and John Amodeo (R-Atlantic) championed last year. During a sales tax "holiday," the Garden State's Corzine-inspired 7% sales tax would be temporarily lowered to 3 ½%. In urban enterprise zones where the economic need is greatest, the state sales tax rate would dip from 3 ½% all the way down to 1.75% throughout the entirety of the year's biggest retail boom.
Yes, Virginia: Jon Corzine, Joe Roberts and Dick Codey can literally save Christmas by allowing holiday shoppers to save more money at their local mall's cash registers. That would lead to more Yuletide consumption and, at tax time, larger business tax revenues for Trenton's badly depleted coffers. This isn't rocket science, ladies and gentlemen! A flying reindeer could wrap its antlers around this math.
So com'on, Mr. Corzine. It's time to start acting like that other famous guy with the beard. A "white" Christmas be damned. You can lead the way and make New Jersey's Christmas very merry, bright and GREEN by supporting a statewide sales tax holiday!
- Take the fight to the Grinches! Find your legislators' contact info over lunch and tell them to support a holiday: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp
FLASHBACK: N.J. Republicans Propose "Sales Tax Holiday" in October 2008
We should get rid of the sales tax all together, esp. on used cars. It hurts the young and lowest income the most.
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so then you would suggest to increase our state debt then, right? I'm down for giving Chris Christie a harder job. lol. That's the only end result...
Don't you remember, congress wouldn't even give a gas tax exempt over the summer with over $4.00 for gas... what makes you think they will lower the sales tax?
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Tax cuts = higher revenue. The government can't create wealth. Only individuals.
Our money is better spent on ourselves... not lucrative insider contracts for Chris Daggett!!!
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Cutting the sales tax in half for a short period would give a boost to sales, but extending it in the January sales period is overkill. Would cost govt too much.
A far better idea is a federal tax credit to every company that increases its employee base by 10% year to year. Give employers the credit, and it will be offset by withholdings, so the hit to the govt won't be too severe. But it would be a lot cheaper than all this TARP and stimulus spending, and would result in far more real jobs. GOP ought to get in front of the parade on this one. Everybody would love it, and it could cut the unemployment dramatically and promptly.
Employers who joined this late in the year would get a smaller credit than those who hired early. Only payroll for the new 10% would get the credit. It would compensate employers for taking the risk of adding productively to payroll. You might also have to deduct any earlier cuts in employment that occurred within the last year.
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When the first stimulus plan was proposed by Bush, Mike Huckabee said "Whose economy are we stimulating- our's or China's." And, as far as I am concerned, Huckabee's analysis applies to Bush's stimulus plan, Obama's stimulus plan and your Obama-like sales tax holiday.
How would a sales tax holiday help the economy? It's just going to frontload sales like the Cash for Clunkers plan. Not the kind of solution we need.
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