Ah, life in the Blue states!
As reported by the Associated Press yesterday, the mayor of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, has put his home up for sale because he can’t afford to pay the local property taxes.
Last year the taxes on his property went up 60%, to more than $31,000. So he and his wife are getting ready to move to Florida. There they have a condo which carries a $2,500 tax bill. Florida is a Red state.
I dunno… Things have gotten pretty bad when the town’s own mayor is taxed out of house and home. But that’s New Jersey, California, New York, and all those other Blue states.
The biggest single factor driving confiscatory Blue state taxation is public employee salaries, benefits, and pensions. Especially teachers. New Jersey pays very high teacher salaries and benefits, and the pensions are fantastically generous: the state legislature is always generous with other people’s money. We are paying through the nose for services that can be provided by any person of average intelligence. Because they’re all unionized, ability to do the job is not an issue.
Here in New Jersey, the only sure way to lose your job as a unionized public school teacher is to commit suicide. Otherwise you just show up until you’re pensioned off at 55, and spend the next 20 or 25 years going on cruises.
Those of us who are not public employees will have to keep on working until we die, to support you.
How many people will they have to tax out of their homes before the ball stops rolling? We can’t all be public employees! You can’t keep this wild party going without taxpayers to pay for it.
But I think they mean to try.