Vote for the Tax or Johnnie C. Is Gonna Break Your Kneecaps!

Who would have thought we'd see Democratic Legislators fighting a Democratic Governor in order to NOT raise taxes? We guess they learned their lesson from 1989. In any case, it's been a long time comin'. As referenced in this essay, The Mob That Whacked New Jersey:

But today Jersey is a cautionary example of how to cripple a thriving state. Increasingly muscular public-sector unions have won billions in outlandish benefits and wages from compliant officeholders. A powerful public education cartel has driven school spending skyward, making Jersey among the nation’s biggest education spenders, even as student achievement lags. Inept, often corrupt, politicians have squandered yet more billions wrung from suburban taxpayers, supposedly to uplift the poor in the state’s troubled cities, which have nevertheless continued to crumble despite the record spending. To fund this extravagance, the state has relentlessly raised taxes on both residents and businesses, while localities have jacked up property taxes furiously. Jersey’s cost advantage over its free-spending neighbors has vanished: it is now among the nation’s most heavily taxed places. And despite the extra levies, new governor Jon Corzine faces a $4.5 billion deficit and a stagnant economy during a national boom.

The Kid has to say though, that although we kept taxes down, we were no better standing up to the unions. We paid off the NJEA handsomely for their support in 1991. And the police unions? What, they can retire with a half pension after 20 minutes on the force, right? 20 minutes and out!