Will Show Differences Between Governor’s Income Tax Giveaway To Wealthy
TRENTON – Senate President Steve Sweeney today unveiled a new website – www.realreliefnj.net – that will allow middle-class New Jersey residents to determine how much they would save under the Democrats’ property tax relief plan, and compare those savings to Governor Christie’s income tax scheme, which largely ignores them in favor of the wealthy.
“Democrats have come up with a simple, straightforward concept: New Jersey’s middle class needs real property tax relief and they need it now,” said Sweeney. “Governor Christie would rather focus on giving millionaires another tax break that they don’t need. The governor can’t even bring himself to utter the words ‘property taxes,’ as it would be admitting that the middle class is paying 20 percent more under his watch.”
“This website will put the truth to the governor’s misleading descriptions of the competing tax cut plans by showing the dramatic differences between his plan, which would reduce income taxes primarily for the wealthy, and the Senate Democratic plan, which would devote property tax relief directly to the middle class. Don’t be fooled by what the governor says because his plan bears no resemblance to ours. He ignores the property tax burden and he would leave the middle class shortchanged. This website will make that clear,” said Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg.
Earlier this week, the Senate President unveiled a proposal that would reduce by 10 percent the property tax burden of New Jerseyans earning less than $250,000 a year. Renters would receive $200 a year after full phase in of the plan.
Under the plan, a family earning the state’s median income of $69,811 with property taxes at the state average of $7,758.20 would save $775.82 under the Senate proposal. Under the governor’s proposed income tax scheme, they would save just $97.78; meanwhile while a millionaire would get a $7,265.75 tax break and those earning $3 million would save $25,200 a year.
The plan would focus every dollar of tax relief on the 95 percent of New Jersey households that earn up to $250,000. The Christie scheme, by comparison, would give those families only an average of $218 in relief, while the top 5 percent would get an average of $4,632 and the top 0.6% would get an average of $22,577.
The website provides a tax savings calculator where visitors can enter their gross annual income and their annual property taxes and receive a comparison between how much they save under the Democrats’ plan versus Governor Christie’s. A virtual map of New Jersey is also available for residents to see how much more they are paying in property taxes under Governor Christie’s administration.
“This website will be a simple, user friendly way for people to see just how much they will save under the Democrats’ plan versus how much millionaires will get under Governor Christie’s plan. It will also allow them to cut through the governor’s misleading rhetoric and get right down to the facts. In the end, we want to give real property tax relief to the people who need it the most while the governor wants to give thousands back to millionaires,” added Sweeney.