June 2, 2005 Corzine plan calls for larger property tax rebate checks
By Jonathan Tamari
ASBURY PARK PRESS
EAST WINDSOR — Saying New Jersey residents are "being pressed" by rising taxes, U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine vowed Wednesday to increase property tax rebate checks if he is elected governor this November.
Corzine, who faces two little-known candidates in the Democratic primary Tuesday, said the state would give homeowners and tenants at least $1.5 billion in rebates his first year in office and increase that amount by 10 percent each of the following three years to ease the burden of the highest property taxes in the nation.
"It's responsible, it's something that's doable," Corzine said. "You can hold me accountable if it doesn't come to pass."
Corzine's plan would cost $7.5 billion to $7.75 billion over four years, which he said can be covered by improving the state economy and managing its budget better.
The state has given rebates for years, but the funding levels have varied. Last year the state doled out $1.7 billion in rebates, funded partly by raising taxes on the rich, but rebates may be cut this year. Corzine said his rebates would outpace rising taxes.
"Rebates work if you make a strong commitment to them," Corzine said.
Corzine also endorsed a constitutional convention to address "structural problems" regarding how New Jersey pays for schools and local governments. Many critics blame those problems for rising property taxes.
Under Corzine's plan, the state would continue collecting various levies while sending out rebates. Seniors would get up to $1,200 in the first year; other homeowners and tenants would receive up to $800. The largest checks would go to seniors and people with lower incomes. Taxpayers with incomes over $200,000 would receive no rebates.
The Republican Party state chairman, Tom Wilson, blasted the proposal.
"His plan does nothing to address the runaway spending that is driving property tax increases," Wilson said.
Doug Forrester, one of the leading Republican gubernatorial candidates, called Corzine's plan "a scary combination" of increasing spending with no promise for tax cuts.
Forrester has proposed reducing property tax bills by 30 percent over three years by having the state fund cuts by ending waste and corruption and by economic growth.
A spokesman for Bret Schundler, another top Republican hopeful, said neither Corzine nor Forrester has a plan to reduce taxes and spending.
"Rather than take the money in and then wash it through the state bureaucracy . . . why don't we just not take it from (taxpayers) in the first place?" said Schundler spokesman Bill Pascoe.
Schundler has called for constitutional limits on local government spending.
