It's Time To Get Caught Up

I realized yesterday that I hadn't posted to the blog in nearly 3 weeks! That's to long.  Ever since my wife went back to work several months back, my honey-do list has gotten longer and longer. Add on top of that my job and the work I've been doing volunteering on Tricia Maguire's campaign for Middletown Township Committee (check out her website), I've lost track of my day to day doings.

So, I'm going to get caught up by posting some older stuff; hopefully you find it informational. If not, oh well .... haha 😊

Ravitch's Blog: Charles Pierce: “Education Is Not A Damn Marketplace!”

The following is from the blog of Diane Ravitch. If education policy is important to you then I suggest you read Ravitch's blog. It's informative as well as enlightening and will occasionally make you want to scream.

Charles Pierce: “Education Is Not A Damn Marketplace!”

by Diane Ravitch
7/3/2017


There is one super-smart columnist writing in Esquire, and his name is Charles P. Pierce.

He gets it.

Unlike the editorial boards of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, he understands that schools don’t get “better” by competing.

He understands that what is called “reform” these days is a massive failure.

He knows that charter schools, despite the boasting, despite the hundreds of millions squandered on them, don’t get better results than public schools and usually get worse results.

He has been paying attention.

In district after district, public schools are outperforming charter schools.

Will someone tell the Walton Family?

Will someone tell Eli Broad and Reed Hastings?

Will the editorial writers wake up anytime soon?


*****
h/t Paula Ram

Audio from the January 18th 2012 Meeting of the Middletown Library Board

by guest blogger Linda Baum

My March 19th post on this blog evoked a flurry of comments about the statements made by some library employees who attended the February 15th Library Board meeting. For the record, I don’t think anything inappropriate was said. Many who spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting expressed concern about the intentions of the newly-refigured Board, and some were critical of the new Township appointees’ behavior at the January 18th Board meeting. I talked about the tone of that meeting in my January 24th post on this blog, but have been late in getting you the audio recording.

Below is a 35-minute audio clip from the nearly 5-hour January 18th meeting. It is a recording of the Board’s discussion about service contracts and purchase resolutions. Two issues were central to the discussion. One issue concerned the normal January purchase of library materials and the exemption of these types of materials from purchasing laws. The other issue was whether or not an attorney should review these purchase resolutions and be present at Board meetings.

In large part, you will hear Library Director Susan O’Neal explaining the rules that govern library materials purchases and responding to new trustee Michael Convery’s questions.

If you don’t have 35 minutes, then skip to the last 5 minutes of the audio recording to hear the comments – by Lawrence Nelsen in particular – that resulted in public criticism of the new Board members.

(Unfortunately, there is no video-recording for the January meeting that would make it much easier to identify who is speaking. The first Library Board meeting to be video-recorded was the February 15th meeting.)

As A Matter Of Fact...Reality Check: Income Taxes Don’t Impede Economic Growth

by Jon Whiten | Published in NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact ...


As Gov. Chris Christie prepares to unveil the specifics of his proposed 10-percent income tax cut at next week’s budget address, he’s working under a key tenet of conservative economics: that high tax rates harm economic growth.

There’s just one problem, according to a new national report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP): that tenet doesn’t match up with reality.

These claims are based largely on misleading analyses generated by Arthur Laffer, long-time spokesman of a supply-side economic theory that President George H. W. Bush once called “voodoo economics” because of its bizarre insistence that tax cuts very often lead to higher revenues. Recently, Laffer’s consulting firm has been very successful (with the help of the American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans for Prosperity, and the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page) in spreading the talking point that the nine states without personal income taxes have economies that far outperform those in the nine states with the highest top tax rates.

In reality, however, residents of “high rate” income tax states are actually experiencing economic conditions at least as good, if not better, than those living in states lacking a personal income tax.

The report pits the nine “high rate” states identified by Laffer (a list that includes New Jersey) against the nine states that don’t have a broad-based personal income tax in three categories: growth per capita, median family income and unemployment rate.



From 2001 to 2010, the “high rate” states have seen stronger growth per capita and less erosion of median family income, while the average unemployment rate has been the same as the un-taxed states.

The bottom line, according to ITEP?

“There is no reason for states to expect that reducing or repealing their income taxes will improve the performance of their economies.”

As A Matter Of Fact...Business Leaders Agree: Raising the Minimum Wage Makes Sense

by Jon Whiten
Published in NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact ...



While legislative leaders’ efforts to raise New Jersey’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour have taken a backseat in recent weeks to the governor’s proposed income tax cut, similar legislation in New York is gaining the backing of some high-profile business advocates.

First up was a Daily News op-ed co-authored by New York City’s billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg that used free-market ideology to argue for bolstering the minimum wage.

“[The minimum wage] helps taxpayers by reducing the number of people who might otherwise have to rely on public assistance to survive,” Bloomberg and state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wrote. “Taxpayers benefit when government dependency is low – and so does the economy.”

The Daily News piece was followed a few days later by an editorial in business bible Crain’s that called for the minimum wage to be raised to $8.50 an hour and tied to inflation going forward. Crain’s said opponents’ arguments that a wage increase will destroy low-paid jobs just aren’t true; it pointed to New York’s 2004 raising of the wage as an example.

“If the change had a cataclysmic effect on businesses that depend heavily on minimum-wage workers, we certainly missed it,” the paper wrote. “Neither, quite obviously, did it shower undeserved riches on the bottom rung of workers.”

If and when the minimum wage bill here in New Jersey starts to pick up steam again, we can only hope some of the state’s leading voices for business will, like Bloomberg and Crain’s, avoid a knee-jerk dismissal of the proposal, and look instead at how it will help our entire economy to flourish.

As A Matter Of Fact ....What Do Taxes Pay For? A Better Quality of Life for Our Children

January 25th, 2012, by Jon Whiten Published in NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact ...





While it’s a well-worn cliché that “nobody likes to pay taxes,” one question isn’t asked often enough: what do those taxes pay for?

According to a new national study, they pay for a higher quality of life for our children.

Investing in Public Programs Matters: How State Policies Impact Children’s Lives, released last week by the Foundation for Child Development (FCD), finds “a strong relationship” between state tax rates and the overall quality of life for children.

The report’s key findings are that “higher state taxes are better for children,” and that “greater investments in government programs are strongly related to better quality-of-life for children in a state.”

The report, along with the annual KIDS COUNT data book that ranks New Jersey fifth — comes as states around the country, including New Jersey, are reacting to fiscal crises with austere, cuts-only spending plan, and it shows the folly of such an approach.

“Although states are currently revenue-starved, this is exactly the wrong time to reduce taxes,” says FCD president Rudy Takanishi. “The revenues generated by taxes should be used to invest more in the education and health of our children. Policymakers must recognize that the cost of shortchanging children today is too high a price to pay in the future.”

There’s good news here for New Jersey: the Garden State ranked first in the nation on the Child Well-Being Index, barely edging out Massachusetts. This finding, based on 2007 data, reaffirms the need to resist further cuts to education and other crucial public programs.

The stakes — our children’s well-being, and our state’s future prosperity – couldn’t be higher.

Quote Of The Day #2: “You can say it’s political...”

Our second quote of the day comes from newly reappointed Middletown Mayor Tony Fiore, from statements made to reporter Kevin Penton in todays Asbury Park Press concerning the appointments of members to (or lack thereof) the Middletown Human Rights Commission and its former Chairperson Carolyn Scwhebel.

“You can say it’s political, you can say it’s personal choice,” Fiore said. “She doesn’t work well with the town.”

Mrs. Scwhebel recently sent a letter to the editor, Middletown Human Rights Commission Being Abolished by Attrition, to local publication (this blog included) that expressed her concerns at not being reappointed to the commission.

And when you consider what went on during the last Township Committee meeting of 2011 back on Dec.19th, Fiore's comments only reinforce what I wrote about in the post Political Affiliations Over Participation Matter More When It Comes To Board Appointments, when discussing an appointment to the Middletown Library Board (listen to the audio).

Vote On Delaware River Basin Fracking Ban Postponed

Readers of this blog know my stance on the hydraulic fracturing(fracking) shale in order to release natural gas deposits that were unattainable before the process was developed, I have posted about its potential harm to our enviroment and drinking water supplies numerous times in the past which you can read Here... Here and Here .

Until it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the process is not harmful to the environment or to our drinking water supplies the practice of fracking should be haulted. Fresh clean, drinkable water is becoming scarce and harder to find, thus it is becoming a precious commodity that shouldn't be messed with.

So the vote yesterday morning to postponing the upcoming Monday mornings vote to approve the process in and along the Delaware River Basin (a key fresh water source for residents of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware) is welcomed news.

Accoding to the Star-Ledger environmental groups are pleased with this postponment:

Environmentalists greeted the vote postponement as a major victory, and for grassroots activism. Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, said the anti-fracking contingent would still be demonstrating in Trenton on Monday morning as previously planned, despite the cancellation.

"There's still going to be a showing — to send a message, largely," she said.

"As long as there is a delay, we can continue working toward getting a permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware basin," added Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter. "We need to keep the pressure up on Governor Christie and the Obama administration to stop these weak rules from moving forward."

You can read the more about the postponement .... Here

As A Matter Of Fact...New Jersey Offers Goya $80 Million to Create Nine New Jobs

October 24th, 2011 | Published in NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact …

Imagine you are a New Jersey job seeker (one of 418,000 unemployed in the state as of September, 2011, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development) and you read in the news that a firm will be getting a state subsidy to hire 175 new workers. You would be thrilled to see those new job opportunities in the state, right?

But, in the case of Goya Foods, Inc., only nine truly new jobs are being created.

Nine.

Of the other 166 “new” workers, 66 would be moved from Goya’s location in Bethpage, New York and 100 already work for Goya as contractors based in Secaucus, according to documents from the state Economic Development Authority (EDA). So these “new” workers are actually existing employees.

Those 100 current contractors may be counted as new workers because they will be converted to direct payroll employees or become part of a professional employer organization (PEO). The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations describes PEOs as enabling “clients to cost-effectively outsource the management of human resources, employment benefits, payroll and workers’ compensation.” Counting current workers as new workers might be technically correct under the subsidy law — but it just doesn’t make sense.

The state’s tax subsidy for these nine new workers is being offered under the newly revised Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit (UTHTC) statute. It is intended to provide an incentive to a firm by lowering its state corporate business tax obligation so that a company will make capital investments in buildings in urban areas near transit and create jobs.

Earlier this month, the EDA approved the $80 million-plus UTHTC for Goya Foods. The company would get that tax credit for building a new 600,000 square foot headquarters/distribution center in Jersey City, a half-mile from the Jersey City PATH station. Aside from the 175 “new” workers, 316 current Goya workers would move to the new facility from Secaucus. Goya’s current headquarters in Secaucus would be converted to a manufacturing facility and 53 jobs would be moved there from elsewhere in Secaucus, but would not be part of the $80 million subsidy.

Further, Goya is to benefit from the expansion of one of the state’s Urban Enterprise Zones to include the part of Jersey City where Goya plans to relocate, according to the Jersey Journal. Urban Enterprise Zones offer companies a host of tax benefits. The company is also seeking a 20-year property tax abatement for its new headquarters/distribution facility in Jersey City, which would lower the firm’s property tax bills; the Jersey City Council will vote to introduce the measure this week, with final approval to possibly come in the second week of November.

But that all may not be enough to keep Goya in New Jersey, according to EDA documents.

New Jersey is competing with New York state, because Goya is also considering moving North Jersey workers to an 892,943 square foot site in Suffern, New York, in Rockland County. No public information was provided by the EDA about the subsidies that may have been offered by the state of New York to woo Goya.

As A Matter Of Fact...The importance of Social Security

September 22nd, 2011 | Published in NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact …

By Mary Forsberg

Social Security is an American mainstay, as much a part of our culture as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie. Established in 1935, it now provides benefits to over 50 million people, about one in every six U. S. citizens. While three-quarters of those receiving benefits are retirees or elderly widow(er)s, 19 percent receive disability insurance payments and 4 percent receive benefits as minor children of parents who have died.

Social Security provides a guaranteed, progressive benefit that keeps with increases in the cost of living. By dollars paid, the U. S. Social Security program is said to be the largest government program in the world. It provides a foundation of retirement protection for nearly every American and its benefits are not means-tested. The near universal participation and the absence of means-testing make Social Security much less expensive (its administrative costs amount to just 0.9 percent of annual benefits) to administer than private retirement annuities.

Debate in Washington about how to reduce the growing federal deficit often turns to reducing social security eligibility and /or benefits. A recent report from Social Security Works and the Strengthen Social Security campaign supports the importance of Social Security to families, communities and state and local economies.

Did you know in New Jersey:

• Social Security provides benefits to more than 1.4 million people.
• Residents receive Social Security benefits totaling nearly $20 million a year
• The median benefit received by a retired worker is about $15,500 a year.
• Social Security is the most important source of income for the 171,400 children living in “grandfamilies,” households headed by a grandparent or other relative.
• Social Security provides valuable disability and life insurance protection for most workers. Nationwide, an estimated 3 of 10 working-aged men and 1 of 4 working-aged women will become severely disabled before reaching retirement age.
• A 30-year-old-worker who earns about $30,000 a year and has a spouse and two young children, receives Social Security insurance protection equal to private disability and life insurance policies worth $465,000 and $476,000 respectively.

Social security has been one of the most important public programs for working family in America since the great depression and clearly provides a measure of security for the elderly, the orphaned and the disabled.

As A Matter Of Fact...Budget vetoes: The scorpion and the frog

July 6th, 2011 | Published in NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact …

By Mary E. Forsberg, Research Director

A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, “How do I know you won’t sting me?” The scorpion says, “Because if I do, I will die too.”

The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp “Why?”

Replies the scorpion: “It’s my nature…”

This parable has many variations: the scorpion and turtle; the snake and dog; the viper and farmer. What each variation has in common is a bad actor, a character who can’t play fair, even if it means he might perish.

Those who are reading the press these days may recognize certain similarities with the current state of politics in New Jersey. And the Democratic leadership surely is croaking now.

It wasn’t a surprise that the governor wielded his ax against the Millionaires’ tax and women’s health programs. He did it before. He said he would do it again and he did it.

What was surprising, though, were the other cuts that had nothing to do with policy and everything to do with the very nature of his leadership. The cuts are unprecedented and go beyond any reasonable policy and fiscal considerations.

The Legislature

The budgets of the Executive office, the Legislature and the Judiciary have always been sacrosanct; a “gentleman’s agreement” has traditionally given each responsibility for its own budget and spending.

No governor before has chopped 41 percent from the Legislature’s staff salary accounts, but that’s exactly what the governor did. And he did it with a dose of venom, saying:

“The budget as adopted by the Legislature relied upon exaggerated revenue estimates, flawed assumptions concerning fund balances and ignored the harsh reality of its spending decisions. This reduction, among many others enumerated herein necessitated reductions of known surpluses, imprudent spending and other excesses.”

People who have noticed this salary cut haven’t made much of it. But the fact is, it has the potential to shift the balance of power in the legislative branch. Here’s how that works.

The salary accounts that the governor cut will not affect the salaries of legislators or those of their district office staff. The ones cut supported the Democratic and Republican legislative committee aides and the people who run the partisan staff offices in Trenton. Money for those salaries is appropriated to the Senate and Assembly in a lump sum and is divided based on which party is in the majority – the majority party (currently the Democrats) gets more of the money, has a bigger staff and has the larger suite of offices.

Unless the Legislature overrides this veto with a 2/3 vote (which would require the support of both parties), the staff of those offices will be significantly reduced. How these cuts are shared will be up to the majority Democrats in the Senate and Assembly. And as Assembly Speaker Oliver, a Democrat, was quoted as saying, “I’m certainly not going to shoot myself in the foot.”

Whether the governor understands this or not, a greatly reduced Republican partisan staff in Trenton is certainly a possible outcome of this line item veto.

Higher Education

Students and institutions of higher education felt the sting of the governor’s veto, which cut full-time and part-time Tuition Aid Grants (TAG) below even his own budget recommendation in March. He reduced the Democrats’ appropriation by $48.5 million, even though the amount in the Democrat’s budget was only $21.3 million more than his budget recommended.

In another unusual veto, the governor reduced the number of state-funded positions at each college by nearly 1,200 positions overall. This veto is an easy one to overlook and understanding it isn’t straightforward. What it means, however, is that the governor is reducing the state’s obligation to pay fringe benefits costs for these positions and is transferring those costs to the colleges – all without prior consultation and at the last minute. It is a backhanded way of again reducing the state’s responsibility for its higher education system. For Rutgers University and the Agricultural Experiment Station, this represents a 6 percent loss; for the other colleges, a 5 percent loss.

The veto message was again venomous. He blames the Legislature for this cost shift, saying:

“The Legislature’s failure to appropriately fund health benefit costs for all state employees necessitated a reduction in the state’s support of employee fringe benefits at all public institutions of higher education.”

Legal Services to the Poor


If you are poor in New Jersey and have a legal problem, save it until next year – maybe. Like the TAG scholarship, legal services will be significantly less than even what the governor proposed in his March budget.

His veto eliminated all state funding ($600,000) for the legal clinics at Seton Hall University Law School, Rutgers Newark Law School and Rutgers Camden Law School. In March he budgeted each of them for $200,000 apiece.

He also apparently took umbrage at the additional $5 million included by the Democrats in their budget for Legal Services of New Jersey, which provides legal services to poor people in civil matters. He cut that budget by $10 million – leaving Legal Services of New Jersey with a smaller budget than he recommended in March.

Cleaning up New Jersey

The Governor’s veto cut $18.8 million or 16 percent of the amount he recommended in March for Department of Environmental Protection programs that safeguard and preserve the state’s environment – for remediation of hazardous waste, underground storage tanks, monitoring water, and dealing with diesel pollution. Funding for these programs comes from a 4 percent constitutional dedication of corporate business tax (CBT) revenues. The effort by the governor and some in the Legislature to ensure that New Jersey is “open for business” by doing away with regulations and reducing corporate taxes means less money is available to protect New Jersey’s environment.

The moral of the budget

No one expected the governor to move away from his ideological position on funding health care for women or to abdicate his protection of the wealthiest in the state from the Millionaire’s tax, which would have added an additional 1.78 percent to their income tax bills this year.

But the veto message this year went beyond negotiation and fair play. There are consequences to every action. The scorpion’s sting meant death to both the scorpion and the frog. The consequences of this veto message are a less prosperous state and an increase in the chasm that separates the state’s wealthy from everyone else.

For a complete list of the governor’s line item vetoes, see the chart

A Comment Worthy Enough For Front Page Posting

I received the following blog comment from reader Judy Repic, who was responding to my March 11th post Doesn't Anyone Remember Christine Whitman? . I thought that it was a worthwhile comment that should be shared with everyone, so I've posted it below:

My question in all of this pension discussion is did either Florio or Whitman take just the portion that the state provided,or did they include the payments made by employees also? Governor Christie was a member of Morris County freeholders when this happened. His comment about "getting in the delorean and going back in time" is pretty cavalier when he was an elected official at the time.

Also, why should any man or woman who have to wear a protective vest have to conceed to giving up anything? Every day active members of PFRS kiss their spouse and family members good by, and that family member has to wonder for 8 hours if they will be welcoming them home or planning a funeral. These State Employees should never have to conceed to anything.

But,hisotically, politicians know how to push the buttons of the general public by accusing state workers of being overpaid for underperformance. The politicians can rile up the hard working general public into a frenzy by saying their world would be better if "x" changes are made. Attacking state workers pay is normally the "x" they use. However, the civil service test is open to everyone, it does not discrimate on any level, so in reality, every citizen in the state of New Jersey has the potential to become a state employee based on a test score.

How about the Governor, Assembly, and Senate start cutting some of their aids, secretaries, close down redundant posititions in Trenton. How about they post the pay of career Trenton employees with that of Police,Fire, Rescue and Corrections Officers who when 911 is dialed show up to aid you.

I am sick of all state employees being considered as lazy and over paid.

Tony Fiore Respondes to Latest Robo-Call

Over on his "new" blog provided by Middletown-Patch, Middletown's acting mayor Tony Fiore, has addressed the latest robo-call that was sent out by the group Concerned Citizens Of Middletown, that talked about the amount of debt the Township is carrying. If you ask me, Fiore's response just lends credence to the message that went out last Friday.

His answer is the same stock answer that has been given many times before but only this time he providers a true debt number of $72million that so many before him have been reluctant to confirm!

And how is it that Mr. Fiore is so sure who is responsible for these robo-calls when so many (myself included) do not? He blames the Middletown Democrats for placing them, which if that was the case, I think I would know about it. It seems to me that these robo-calls have struck a nerve and seem to be factual based by his response to them.

Also I believe, the point of how much debt the town can borrow itself into, is a silly one; who cares what a towns' or persons' credit card limit is when it is already difficult to meet the minimum payments on the balance!

Middletown hasn't had it debt rating updated in several years, It has been shown recently that credit rating agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor aren't worth much. After the financial meltdown of the past few years, many of the investments that caused the near collapse of the economy were rated A, AA, or AAA from both of these institutions. Knowing that why would anyone want to tout how special they are? They're not.

On the final point about the blocking of a return phone number, I don't know what Fiore is talking about, unless he wants to incite others into believing that these messages have no integrity, which I'm sure is his intent, he is living up to him nick-name of the "Fibber". Every call that I have received by Concerned Citizens of Middletown, including Friday's, had a return number left on my caller-id.

True it wasn't a Middletown phone number or one from the immediate area (I think it was Dunellen), but there was in fact a phone number associated with the call.

On a side note - I don't know how Fiore's blog on Middletown-Patch works, but this posting was dated Tuesday May 24 at 12:58 PM, right in the middle of a busy work day. Doesn't Tony have a job that he needs to attend to at 1pm in the afternoon? True, he may have been on his lunch hour but I think not. Working on Township business (which this clearly is), on company time is a No-No as everyone knows.

I wonder what his employer would think????

As a Matter Of Fact...State losing out on 9-1 match;NJ would save $45 million a year if it invested $7.5 million in family planning

May 23rd, 2011 | Published in NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact …

At a time when New Jersey doesn’t have a penny to spare, the state is leaving money on the table – perhaps millions of dollars a year in federal funds that could provide family planning services to poor, uninsured women.

Not only has Governor Christie refused to continue the program that provides state grants to family planning clinics across the state (he vetoed a $7.5 million appropriation sponsored by Sen. Weinberg), the state has withdrawn its application for a Medicaid waiver that would have provided a 9-to-1 federal match of state funds that paid family planning expenses for women at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. To put it in simpler terms, under the waiver known as the Family Planning State Option the federal government would provide $9 million for every $1 million that New Jersey spent.

According to estimates from the widely-respected Guttmacher Institute, the Family Planning State Option would save New Jersey $3 million in the first year alone. After the first year, it would:

• Save the state $45 million every year.
• Provide basic medical care to over 80,000 people every year, including not just family planning but other preventive care such as cancer screenings.

• Help thousands of low income women who want to avoid pregnancy do just that – averting 4,000 abortions and 6,000 births every year.

See the full report here.

Twenty-eight states currently receive matching funds and all have seen substantial cost savings. According to estimates by the National Academy of Health Safety Policy, the savings over five years range from $75 million in Arkansas to more than $2 billion in California.

See the full report here.

The governor has said his opposition to the family planning clinic grants has nothing to do with politics, but is based in his desire to be a responsible fiscal steward of the state’s scarce resources.

He should live up to that standard.

Clearly, the numbers show the tremendous benefit that accrues by funding these grants. In addition to providing poor and working women broad and consistent access to family planning services, the Medicaid waiver allows the state to receive the 9-to-1 federal match in funding.

The fiscally responsible thing to do would be to invest a little of the state’s resources in family planning and reap the rewards of increased federal funding as well as cost savings to deal with avoidable pregnancies.

To do anything else seems to be a waste of time and money.

As A Matter Of Fact...State pleads poverty to reduce tax credits for working families, but has enough to provide tax credits for corporations

April 18th, 2011

For working families struggling to make ends meet, the state Earned Income Tax Credit is a necessity, and the Christie Administration’s 25 percent reduction in the credit this year for about a half million New Jersey families is a devastating increase in the taxes they owe.

Today, on tax day, it’s important to note that a parent with two children working full time at the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour (about $15,000 a year) will owe $300 more in taxes – or more than a week’s wages.

These are the same families who are also being targeted for other cuts in services that are essential to their independence. Last year about 48,000 uninsured parents who received the state EITC were denied health coverage through NJFamilyCare. That number is expected to rise to 92,000 parents this year.

It is getting to the point in New Jersey where, for many marginal families, it simply doesn’t pay to work. Aside from stripping those working families of their independence, it creates an even greater cost to the state.

The governor’s favorite rock star, Bruce Springsteen, recently cited a Legal Services of New Jersey report in a letter to the Asbury Park Press, writing, “the cuts are eating away at the lower edges of the middle class, not just those already classified as in poverty, and are likely to continue to get worse over the next few years.” The census data backs up his assertion. From 2005 to 2009 lower income groups increased, the middle class shrank and the number of wealthier people increased in New Jersey. Economics plays a role in this, but so does state policy.

This cutback in tax credits for working families comes even as the Christie administration and the Legislature are expanding tax credits for corporations in New Jersey.

For example, last month the state awarded Campbell Soup a $41 million tax credit to renovate its corporate headquarters, move 49 jobs from Cherry Hill to Camden and hire 50 new employees at the Camden site over the next 10 years. The credit includes $6.3 million for new furniture. Campbell qualifies for the subsidy, officially called the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit, which is aimed at redeveloping urban centers, because its offices are within a mile of the Walter Rand Transportation Center.

The total cost to the state to fund that tax credit to Campbell Soup is nearly as much as the $45 million in savings gained by reducing the state EITC.

So who needs this help the most, one of the largest corporation in America or working New Jerseyans who can barely make ends meet to support their children? It’s unfortunate example of why the state needs a more balanced approach — one that doesn’t focus only on cuts in services, but also balances the demand for shared sacrifice fairly between working families and giant corporations.

Interested in learning more about the Earned Income Tax Credit? Check out this piece by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

A Hand Up: How State Earned Income Tax Credits Help Working Families Escape Poverty in 2011

President Obama's Weekly Address 4/16/11: America’s Fiscal Future

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama said that to restore fiscal responsibility, we all need to share in the sacrifice – but we don’t have to sacrifice the America we believe in. Earlier this week, the President proposed a balanced approach to cut the deficit, which matches the $4 trillion in deficit reduction put forward by House Republicans’ plan. The President’s proposal does this by combing the entire budget for savings and asking everyone to do their part. The Republican plan, though, would end Medicare as we know it and make drastic cuts to education, infrastructure and clean energy, while giving away $1 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest two percent.

FYI - Tax Freedom Day Arrived on April 12

FYI - Tax Freedom Day arrived for many, if not all of us on April 12th. Tax Freedom Day is the day of the years when it is figured that the average American worker has earned enough money to pay their federal, state and local property tax obligations for the year.

It does not celebrate whether or not the average american worker can afford those taxes however!

by Kail Padgitt -Tax Foundation

Tax Foundation Special Report No. 190

Tax Freedom Day® will arrive on April 12 this year, the 102nd day of 2011. That means Americans will work well over three months of the year, from January 1 to April 12, before they have earned enough money to pay this year's tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels.

Tax Freedom Day arrives three day later in 2011 than it did in 2010, but nearly two weeks earlier than in 2007. This shift toward a lower tax burden since 2007 has been driven by three factors:

• The Great Recession has reduced tax collec tions even faster than it has reduced income.

• President Obama and the Congress, after a long debate, extended the Bush-era tax cuts for two additional years.

• As part of the extension agreement, the Making Work Pay tax credit was replaced with the 2 percent reduction in the payroll tax.

Despite these tax reductions, Americans will pay more in taxes in 2011 than they will spend on groceries, clothing and shelter combined.

Tax Freedom Day 2011 is later than last year largely because of income changes rather than statutory tax law changes. As the economic recovery continues, individuals' rising income pushes them into higher tax brackets. Corporate tax revenue has also seen a resurgence.

Although these income increases are the main reason for the later Tax Freedom Day, several tax law changes are also partly to blame: The federal estate tax has returned after a one-year repeal, this time at a rate of 35 percent and with an exemption of $5 million. In addition, taxes associated with the Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act con tinue to be phased in.

Tax Freedom Day, like almost all tax burden measures, does not take into account the current year's federal budget deficit. Only taxes that will actually be collected dur ing 2011 count in the tally. In many years the deficit is fairly small as a percentage of total government spending, so Tax Freedom Day alone is a good guide to the size of government.

Since 2008, however, deficits have increased dramatically. As a result, Tax Freedom Day may give the impression that the burden of government is smaller than it is. If the federal government were planning to col lect enough in taxes during 2011 to finance all of its spending, it would have to collect about $1.48 trillion more, and Tax Freedom Day would arrive on May 23 instead of April 12—adding an additional 41 days to the nation's work for government. This date for a deficit-inclusive measure is the latest since World War II.

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Crime Scene Middletown: FORMER MATER DEI DEAN OF STUDENTS CHARGED WITH SEX ASSAULT OF MINOR

PREPARED BY DETECTIVE LIEUTENANT STEPHEN DOLLINGER

The Middletown Police Department has charged the former Dean of Students at Mater Dei High School, located on Cherry Tree Farm Road, with sexually assaulting a former student who was sixteen years old at the time of the assault.

Detective Kelly Godley charged William Miltner, age 28, from Acker Drive in Middletown with second degree Aggravated Sexual Assault and fourth degree Aggravated Sexual Contact.

Miltner had been employed by the high school for four years and was promoted to Dean of Students in 2010. He was also a teacher and a soccer coach at the school. Police say that Miltner had an ongoing sexual relationship with the student which occurred outside of school in April of 2009. The victim has since graduated from the school and is currently eighteen years old.

Miltner was arrested on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 and is being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Facility in Freehold on $125,000 bail with no 10% option set by Superior Court Judge Thomas Scully.


Note -For a full account of this press release read the story, as reported ,in the Asbury Park Press