Have you ever wondered, just how did New Jersey get here?
How could a state as prosperous as ours get to the point of financial crisis that it is today?
Here are a few reasons:
10,000: The number of state employees who were hired by the state's governors, both Republican and Democrat, between 2000 and 2006, a 17 percent gain even though the state’s population grew by only 4 percent, according to City Journal..
(Corzine brags that he's cutting roughly 3,000 jobs wants to skip the fact that there's still a net of +7,000 jobs over the past 6 years)
13,000: The number of full-time (or full-time equivalents) hired by agencies and authorities subsidized by state government but not directly controlled by the governor, in that same time frame.
Nearly 6 percent: The amount state spending increased a year from 2000 through 2008, nearly double the inflation rate.
33: The number of times ex-Gov. McGreevey raised taxes and fees in his short time in office.
$1.2 billion: The amount Gov. Corzine raised the sales tax in 2006.
Second-worst: New Jersey's ranking for business-tax environment in the country, according to the Tax Foundation.
Third-worst: Managed state in the nation, according to Governing magazine.
9 percent: The amount then-Gov. DiFrancesco and the Legislature raised pensions for public employees, teachers and state lawmakers in 2001, according to the Asbury Park Press.
$5.2 billion: The amount the pension boost cost taxpayers.
Almost $8 billion: The expected cost of active and retired employee benefits, including pension and health care, in 2013, up from $2 billion this year.
Now how does Gov. Corzine's budget and fiscal plan address these facts?
We've said it before, we'll say it again. New Jersey doesn't have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem.
Jacking the tolls up by 800 percent, or raising the gas tax, will do nothing to change that.
13,000: The number of full-time (or full-time equivalents) hired by agencies and authorities subsidized by state government but not directly controlled by the governor, in that same time frame.
Nearly 6 percent: The amount state spending increased a year from 2000 through 2008, nearly double the inflation rate.
33: The number of times ex-Gov. McGreevey raised taxes and fees in his short time in office.
$1.2 billion: The amount Gov. Corzine raised the sales tax in 2006.
Second-worst: New Jersey's ranking for business-tax environment in the country, according to the Tax Foundation.
Third-worst: Managed state in the nation, according to Governing magazine.
9 percent: The amount then-Gov. DiFrancesco and the Legislature raised pensions for public employees, teachers and state lawmakers in 2001, according to the Asbury Park Press.
$5.2 billion: The amount the pension boost cost taxpayers.
Almost $8 billion: The expected cost of active and retired employee benefits, including pension and health care, in 2013, up from $2 billion this year.
Now how does Gov. Corzine's budget and fiscal plan address these facts?
We've said it before, we'll say it again. New Jersey doesn't have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem.
Jacking the tolls up by 800 percent, or raising the gas tax, will do nothing to change that.
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