CORZINE HAS DONE NOTHING TO END VICIOUS AND BROKEN PROPERTY TAX SYSTEM THAT 'STEALS OUR WAY OF LIFE'

DeCROCE SAYS GOVERNOR SHOULD READ GANNETT'S PROPERTY TAX SERIES TO LEARN HOW HE HAS IGNORED N.J.'S BIGGEST AND GLARING PROBLEM

    Gannett New Jersey's weeklong look at the New Jersey worst-in-the-nation property tax burden - confirms that Governor Corzine has done nothing to curb the state's largest problem, which has grown exponentially since he and his allies have controlled Trenton, Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce said today.

    "New Jersey's worst-in-the-nation property tax burden has grown for years while Governor Corzine's administration has tried to claim it has controlled property taxes and that New Jersey is not overtaxed," DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic, said. "Clearly, this report shows how out-of-touch the governor is with a problem that independent analysts say is broken, archaic and punishing while it steals our way of life.

    "This report is a must-read for a governor who is largely responsible, yet remains in denial, for New Jersey's vicious property tax problem," DeCroce added. "If the governor recognized the serious issues raised in this report, perhaps his solution to control government spending would not be cutting property tax relief as he did this year when he took away rebate checks from 1.2 million hard-working families."

    According to Gannett's eight-part series, "Fighting New Jersey's Tax Crush," available at www.app.com/taxcrush/:

* New Jersey's average property tax bill tops the nation at $7,045 and is on pace to exceed $10,000 in the next decade.

* Nearly 45 percent of all taxes raised in New Jersey comes from property assessments, exceeding the national average of 29 percent.

* Of the $23 billion raised in property taxes last year, $18 billion went toward public employees.

     Assembly Republicans have offered the governor several tools to help control property taxes so that residents aren't forced from their homes, but he has refused to consider their proposals, said DeCroce, pointing notably to a proposal that would have limited the state's budget to the rate of inflation of 4 percent - whichever was less.    

    "If the governor had implemented that simple prudent step to control government spending in New Jersey, we would have saved $6.5 billion over the last seven years, which could have been used to relieve the devastating property tax bills that threaten New Jersey's future," DeCroce said. "But the governor has chosen to rely on one-shot gimmicks and hopes of miracles while half of our state's residents have indicated they want to leave because of unaffordable property taxes."