Gov. Jon Corzine’s “tax the rich” plan will only exacerbate the current fiscal problems (“Tax plans, and none of them are good,” May 31). It is vital to the state’s future, as part of a broader government reform package, that the state reform its convoluted tax code into one that has a low rate, is nondistorting and is broad-based. Abiding by these sound tax principles will encourage growth and make budgets more predictable.
Before raising taxes, legislators should create a comprehensive, online database and establish an independent auditing commission to hold government programs and officials more accountable and reduce wasteful spending and fraud, as well as cut the myriad “economic development” schemes and privatizing non-core functions of government, as Indiana has done successfully and reform the overly generous public pension plans that impose a heavy burden on the state’s budget.
Without fundamental reform of how New Jersey collects and uses its tax revenue, no amount of money will ever be enough.
John Nothdurft, budget and tax legislative specialist for the Heartland Institute.
This letter to the editor was originally published in The Star-Ledger.
John Nothdurft joined the staff of The Heartland Institute in May 2008 and left in January of 2019.
