By Matt Rooney | Cross-Posted at The Save Jersey Blog

How many times have we heard the old refrain?

Around the water cooler or while stranded at your cousin’s birthday party: “Com’on! They’re all the same! There’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans! It doesn’t matter which you crooked party you vote for!”

Too often your cranky Aunt Sue is right, Save Jerseyans. That’s why bipartisanship for bipartisanship’s sake doesn’t win elections. Americans don’t care if their leaders get along; if they truly preferred harmony and accord in the public arena, then “reality” television shows like MTV’s Jersey Shore wouldn’t be ratings blockbusters. Voters tell pollsters they like peace, want it, need it, and so on. No one wants other people to think they’re turned on by conflict! It’s not polite or proper, right? But rest assured that what the fickle masses are really craving is a compelling contrast between the major parties.

In yesterday’s ‘State of the State’ address, Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) took one gigantic step towards securing his own reelection by providing such a contrast.

The centerpiece of the Governor’s 2012 plan is an across-the-board 10% income tax cut at a time when other populous states are hiking their rates rates.

God knows this is welcome news. The Garden State’s tax burden is among the worst in the nation and income taxes rates are no exception, ranging from 1.4% for residents earning only $20,000 annually all the way up to 8.97% for residents bringing home $500,000 or more by year’s end. Visit the treasury department to see where you fall.  According to the Tax Foundation, ”New Jersey’s 2008 state-level individual income tax collections were $1,457 per person, which ranked 6th highest nationally.”

The Governor’s plan will consequently reap significant benefits for every single New Jersey taxpayer. That includes the single working mother on your block and the successful business owner down the street, both of whom would see tangible relief in a bad ecomony. Compare this approach with that of a major economic competitor, New York State, where Andrew Cuomo is raising taxes from 150-to-200% on New Yorkers earning less than $100,000 while those earning over $1 million are slated for a tax cut. How can New York businesses recruit with that kind of a tax structure as an impediment?

New Jersey Democrats aren’t any more original than their Empire State counterparts. Less so, if we’re being honest. They’re already attacking Christie’s plan for providing too little relief  to low income residents. I look forward to fat cat Democrat legislators like Senate President Sweeney trying to convince young families that a few extra hundred dollars come tax time is chump change not worth keeping! And the Sweeney-Oliver proposal for 2012 is more astounding evidence of advanced tone-deafness: a massive 17% increase to the cost of doing business in New Jersey. If this plan wins out, businessmen trying to choose between Manhattan and Hoboken for a new expansion will continue to opt for Pennsylvania or North Carolina instead… or perhaps even the murky bottom of the Hudson River? Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if the treasury department responded by hiring professional divers.

I only hope that the Christie cut makes it to the surface. Whether he can get his 10% tax cut past a solidly-Democrat state legislature is an open question, even for a man famous for inter-party miracles. It’s helpful that Americans are rapidly tiring of the Democrat Party’s cynical class warfare tactics. My fellow New Jerseyans are no exceptions. Sadly, redistricting virtually guaranteed Democrat legislative dominance for another decade by shielding incumbents from popular sentiment in embarrassingly gerrymandered districts. Bottom line: we may be treading water for awhile until real tax reform is won.

But the Governor’s proposal is hardly a fruitless endeavor even in the short term. By setting forth a bold tax reform proposal, Chris Christie is giving New Jersey voters a clear rationale to return him to Trenton next November. Taxpayers will face down an unambiguous choice in the polling booth: whether to (1) reelect a principled incumbent Governor who believes in New Jersey’s ability to generate prosperity, or (2) roll the dice on a Democrat challenger who believes in Trenton’s ability to spend your money better than you.

I’m confident we’ll make the right decision in two year’s time, just as I’m confident that growing hosts of politicians around the country will rely on Governor Christie’s courageous example in the months and years ahead. More than any other Republican leader out there today, Chris Christie continues to provide the substantive contrast we need to win the battle for America’s future. God bless him for it.

________

Matt Rooney is a New Jersey attorney, conservative activist and the founder & Blogger-in-Chief of New Jersey’s #1 conservative blog, Save Jersey. You can learn more about Matt and the Christie Revolution by visiting today!

What bugs me is the apparent gross negotiating incompetence of Congressional Republicans. Maybe I am all wrong and they engaged the Democrats with some grand Machiavellian plan, but this has all the hallmarks of a classic Democrat bait-and-switch game designed to force Republicans to accept more compromises while making them culpable for the end result.

John Kyl is proud of his compromise with Obama that has resulted in an agreement to extend all of the Bush tax cuts until the next election, except for the death tax.  Those who are content with the death tax compromise are remembering the time when 55% of anything over $1 million was taxed upon death.  They therefore are praising the new rate of 35% on assets above $5 million.  The problem with it is that a 35% tax for dying is immoral, unconstitutional, and confiscatory no matter how you slice it.

The reality is that most of these taxable assets from estates were already taxed at least once (if not several times) and there is simply no reason to tax them again upon the owners death.  Also, if we cut through much of the class warfare rhetoric we will see that $ 5 million is not that much.  Keep in mind that we are not referring to $5 million in annual income.  The death tax confiscates all land, equipment, and assets of businesses and farms that have accumulated during the lifetime of its owner.  It is not hard to understand that any successful entrepreneur would be able to accrue such assets during his lifetime without reaching the top 1%.  Why should his descendants pay a dime to inherit the fruits of his labor?  The death tax, in any shape or form, fundamentally violates the spirit of liberty and property rights that the country was founded upon.

Even some authentic conservatives are applauding the Obama deal, especially in light of his surprise tax holiday on payroll taxes.  They believe that we have achieved an unimaginable victory by securing the Bush tax cuts while the Democrats control all branches of government. However, the fact is that the Democrats have been backed into a corner on this issue for quite some time and were forced to pass the tax cuts.  This is not only a result of the midterm elections, but also a consequence of so many red state Democrats up for election in 2012 (including Obama himself).  Despite their bravado shown through their class warfare rhetoric, in private, they knew that they could not raise taxes on anyone in a recession.  This is why they waited until the last minute to agree to the deal.  They didn’t want to be perceived as giving into the Republicans until the last week of the session in which it would be do or die for the Democrats.

With this in mind, it is quite transparent that a temporary extension of all the tax cuts was a foregone conclusion.  The Democrats were compelled to approve at least a temporary extension of all the tax cuts.  It was the Republicans who gave in on everything else.  They didn’t push for a full extension.  Also, they agreed to extend unemployment benefits (which are nothing more than welfare at this point) for a whopping 13 more months!  This will bankrupt the nation while perpetuating and exacerbating unemployment.  The Republicans could have negotiated for spending offsets or for just a four month extension.  Instead, they agreed to everything on the spending side of the equation.

So the question begs, after all these concessions, did the Republicans really need to agree to reinstate the Death tax in any capacity?  Once they gave the Democrats everything they wanted on the spending and dependency side of the equation (which was more important to them in the first place), couldn’t they have forced a full extension of the DT repeal, especially considering that it is only for two years?

Another interesting dynamic of this tax deal is its effects on the politics of debt.  For many years, the Democrats have successfully tainted the Reagan administration with the explosion of the national debt as a result of his tax cuts.  We all know that the real reason for the debt is that although Reagan successfully cut taxes, he could not succeed in stemming the tide of the growing welfare state because of the Democrat congress.  This tax deal will do the same thing.  Any benefits of the Laffer curve will be mitigated by the insane 13 month subsidy of unemployment.  The payroll tax cut will also raise the debt because the liberals will not cut back on any of the FICA benefits despite the lost revenue in taxes.  Then, the left will get to blame the debt calamity on the tax cuts.

The bottom line is that whatever one feels about the necessity for the Republicans to cave on the welfare part of the deal, they could have gotten away with another two year extension of the death tax repeal.  Unfortunately, it appears that Senator Kyl has bought into some of the class warfare rhetoric, even in time of death.  He believes that if you accumulate more than $5 million worth of assets, your death should trigger a confiscatory tax.  He therefore felt there was no reason to negotiate for a “tax cut for the rich”.

Cross-posted to Red Meat Conservative

Keeping taxes low is finally front and center on the Congressional agenda.  Today, Democrats in the House are pushing for a vote Obama version of limited tax relief for American families making under $250,000 and individuals making under $200,000.  Republicans in Congress are pledging to fight for tax cuts for job creators making more than that amount and retention of lower rates on capital gains, dividends and the death tax.  Negotiations continue between the White House and Congress on a final deal.  Conservatives want the Obama Tax Increases of 2011 to be stopped.

Read More →

Keeping taxes low is finally front and center on the Congressional agenda.  Today, Democrats in the House are pushing for a vote Obama version of limited tax relief for American families making under $250,000 and individuals making under $200,000.  Republicans in Congress are pledging to fight for tax cuts for job creators making more than that amount and retention of lower rates on capital gains, dividends and the death tax.  Negotiations continue between the White House and Congress on a final deal.  Conservatives want the Obama Tax Increases of 2011 to be stopped.

Read More →

There seems to be a lot of happy talk surrounding Barack Obama’s recent trip to Capitol Hill, and his attempt to sell his stimulus bill to Republicans by adding a few ‘tax cuts.’  But bipartisan bonhomie notwithstanding, there’s no more reason to embrace Barack Obama’s stimulus plan today than there was a week ago.

It is still a tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars, will do nothing to help the economy, and will blow an even bigger hole in a deficit that has risen from $162 billion to $1.2 trillion annually since Democrats took control of Congress. What Obama is selling and what he’s offering are two different things.  While the economy needs a genuine stimulus, Obama is offering to ‘spread the wealth.’  And in so doing, he’s brazenly disregarding his read-my-lips campaign pledge to offer a net spending cut at a time when everyone else is tightening their belts.

Under the proposal, as presently described, successful businesses would get no tax cuts.  Unsuccessful businesses would get taxpayer subsidies.  The government would be all in with respect to picking winners and losers in what used to be the free market.  Likewise, Obama’s “tax cuts” are actually an end run around welfare reform — giving the most money to people who pay little or no taxes, then taking that money away if they get a pay raise or a better job. Nothing proposed by Obama — not the infrastructure spending, not the aid to the states, and not the redistributive tax cuts — would help create jobs or wealth.  In fact, taxing the people of each state to give money back to their own state government isn’t just robbing Peter to pay Paul, it’s robbing Peter to pay Peter.  If states need to raise more revenue, let their governors make that case directly to their taxpayers.

The best plan we are aware of to create jobs and wealth starts with making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent.  These reductions in capital gains taxes and dividend taxes, as well as the elimination of the death tax, are far more likely to get the economy moving again than anything proposed by Barack Obama or his Congressional allies. Absent that, there is no reason for Congressional Republicans to lend support in the crafting of an ineffective and wasteful pork barrel bill. 

If the Democrats will not make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, the GOP should not even hint at supporting the Democrats’ plan. Two Republican Senators, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, are already suggesting they can work with Barack Obama on his “tax cuts” as presented.  Just callling something a tax cut does not make it so, just as calling something a stimulus does not make it so. 

Mitch McConnell, Saxby Chambliss, and the rest of the Republican caucus could probably use some encouragement to avoid the siren song of tax cuts and stimulus before they lend their support to a bill that is neither.

There seems to be a lot of happy talk surrounding Barack Obama’s recent trip to Capitol Hill, and his attempt to sell his stimulus bill to Republicans by adding a few ‘tax cuts.’  But bipartisan bonhomie notwithstanding, there’s no more reason to embrace Barack Obama’s stimulus plan today than there was a week ago.

It is still a tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars, will do nothing to help the economy, and will blow an even bigger hole in a deficit that has risen from $162 billion to $1.2 trillion annually since Democrats took control of Congress. What Obama is selling and what he’s offering are two different things.  While the economy needs a genuine stimulus, Obama is offering to ‘spread the wealth.’  And in so doing, he’s brazenly disregarding his read-my-lips campaign pledge to offer a net spending cut at a time when everyone else is tightening their belts.

Under the proposal, as presently described, successful businesses would get no tax cuts.  Unsuccessful businesses would get taxpayer subsidies.  The government would be all in with respect to picking winners and losers in what used to be the free market.  Likewise, Obama’s “tax cuts” are actually an end run around welfare reform — giving the most money to people who pay little or no taxes, then taking that money away if they get a pay raise or a better job. Nothing proposed by Obama — not the infrastructure spending, not the aid to the states, and not the redistributive tax cuts — would help create jobs or wealth.  In fact, taxing the people of each state to give money back to their own state government isn’t just robbing Peter to pay Paul, it’s robbing Peter to pay Peter.  If states need to raise more revenue, let their governors make that case directly to their taxpayers.

The best plan we are aware of to create jobs and wealth starts with making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent.  These reductions in capital gains taxes and dividend taxes, as well as the elimination of the death tax, are far more likely to get the economy moving again than anything proposed by Barack Obama or his Congressional allies. Absent that, there is no reason for Congressional Republicans to lend support in the crafting of an ineffective and wasteful pork barrel bill. 

If the Democrats will not make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, the GOP should not even hint at supporting the Democrats’ plan. Two Republican Senators, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, are already suggesting they can work with Barack Obama on his “tax cuts” as presented.  Just callling something a tax cut does not make it so, just as calling something a stimulus does not make it so. 

Mitch McConnell, Saxby Chambliss, and the rest of the Republican caucus could probably use some encouragement to avoid the siren song of tax cuts and stimulus before they lend their support to a bill that is neither.