Trenton – Senator Linda Greenstein, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on Tuesday in response to the shared recognition by a large consortium of New Jersey mayors of the importance of property tax relief:
“The mayors are part of a universal chorus identifying property tax relief as an urgent priority that seems to include everyone except the governor. Residents of suburban, urban and rural communities alike are shouldering the unfair burden of escalating property taxes and the governor wants to devote state funds to an income tax scheme that would provide a windfall to the wealthy but leave the middle class with meager savings. In fact, the governor’s budget policies have made the burden worse by forcing a 20 percent property tax increase statewide during his two years in office.
“The Democratic Legislature possesses a shared understanding of the importance of property tax relief and we have a plan that will do something about it by providing direct relief to homeowners and renters who need it most. (http://www.realreliefnj.net)
“We will work with the mayors of New Jersey to find ways to ease the middle class burden of escalating property taxes, including a greater allocation of energy tax receipts to municipalities. We urge the governor to listen to the mayors, to listen to legislators and to listen to middle class residents who have joined together in making property tax relief a top priority.”