Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, a Republican candidate for governor and a champion of deregulation, objected strenuously to Gov. Jon Corzine's budget proposal today.

Lonegan sees Corzine's effort as a failure to identify the underlying structural problem of New Jersey state government. 

"The Governor's budget ignores the fact that New Jersey is the highest taxed state in America," Lonegan said in a statement. "His proposal exacerbates this condition by increasing the income tax, guaranteeing that we will continue to drive out high-income wage earners. I have proposed a flat income tax of 2.9% that will provide the state with the revenue we need while stopping the outflow of jobs and high-income tax payers from New Jersey.

"This budget increases destructive small-business corporate income taxes – the third highest in the nation – perpetuating New Jersey's ranking as the worst state to do business in," Lonegan added. "As I predicted in 2007, the rebate program which was funded with higher income taxes will once again be cut back and turned into nothing more than a glorified welfare check. New Jersey's governing establishment has failed time and again to recognize the role played by the State Supreme Court in burdening property taxpayers with funding mandates and regulation."