“thanks to an unanticipated drop in tax revenues of $402 million this year and $365 million next year.”
WTF?
With 10% unemployment this was unexpected? With people leaving N.J. in droves because it has the highest taxes and insurance rates in the country?
And how is next years tax revenues an unanticipated drop already?
Living here in NJ (as you might also, Frenchtown Dan) I hear this a lot: “people are leaving NJ because of the high taxes.” I have looked for the statistics to support this assertion, because I’d love to be able to use it in conversations.
Unfortunately, I haven’t found any support for it. NJ has the third highest taxes in the nation *overall*, if you add in our high Federal Income Tax burden. That won’t change if people move out.
The last study I found (2007, http://blog.nj.com/statattack/2007/10/are_being_taxed_out_o.html) said that NJ’s taxes are 11.6%, which is the 10th highest in the nation, not the 1st.