Less Money, Fewer Jobs, Same bloated Government with more Taxes
The latest phenomenon by taxpayers is tea parties imitating the early patriots protest against taxation without representation. The British placed taxes on many products in the 18th Century leading up to the American Revolution. Since tea was a staple to the Brits, they taxed it and other products, to make the colonies pay for themselves. No wonder the Americans eventually became coffee drinkers. We are seeing protests all over the US with such items as teabag earrings to make the point again. It’s easy to aim all protests at the Federal Government. But it is important that we taxpayers aim our wrath in the right direction. In the state of New Jersey where I live, we have the ironic distinction of being the highest taxed state in the Union. The Governors of the state have never really addressed the heart of the problem for fear of losing the support of the real power brokers in the state. The often corrupt and always arrogant county freeholders are notorious in this state for never being voted out. Hudson County in the early 20th century is the poster child for this system. How can we lower our taxes when each county in the state is consuming over $1,250,000 per day to duplicate the services of the municipalities and the state? Jobs cannot be dismantled and the increases in pay are constant and with little or no opposition. Taxpayers that take their time and energy to show up and speak their mind are often laughed at and cut short by the freeholders holding the meetings. Who gets the jobs in county government? Relatives of the freeholders are holding the majority of the jobs. The argument in this economic crisis by my county to save the jobs of county workers is to cut services for the taxpayers. The latest in my county is closing a county run golf course at a time when baby boomers are being retired at a record pace and the other unemployed have too much time on their hands. Our course where you don’t have to pay county club fees is closed and plowed over in record time. In New Jersey the construction on county roads is a lifetime affair of holding up traffic and rerouting lanes, but the golf course is plowed over in record time. The employees who get to keep their jobs while private businesses are averaging several hundred thousand new unemployed per month. The worst part is because of their seniority all earn over $100,000 per year. Is it any wonder we are paying over a million a month for these bureaucrats and their relatives to stay employed? The pensions of these people will burden our children with taxes for years to come. What private company has a pension plan anymore? Everyone is ready to let General Motors die because they are bleeding red ink from the pensions of the past autoworkers.
New England has done the best job to address the problem by doing away with the county tax drains and giving the services to the municipalities and townships. If the State of New Jersey were a private business the reorganization of this type of money drain would have taken place years ago. But since they are funded by our tax dollars they are fighting for lifetime employment. It is time to resurrect the old adage for earth day to think globally and act locally. There is no advantage of blaming a 90-day-old President for a hundred years of duplicate services, jobs for life and pensions, which have not been available in the private sector for over 20 years. The taxpayer revolution has to start by streamlining the bloated government right in our states.
The latest phenomenon by taxpayers is tea parties imitating the early patriots protest against taxation without representation. The British placed taxes on many products in the 18th Century leading up to the American Revolution. Since tea was a staple to the Brits, they taxed it and other products, to make the colonies pay for themselves. No wonder the Americans eventually became coffee drinkers. We are seeing protests all over the US with such items as teabag earrings to make the point again. It’s easy to aim all protests at the Federal Government. But it is important that we taxpayers aim our wrath in the right direction. In the state of New Jersey where I live, we have the ironic distinction of being the highest taxed state in the Union. The Governors of the state have never really addressed the heart of the problem for fear of losing the support of the real power brokers in the state. The often corrupt and always arrogant county freeholders are notorious in this state for never being voted out. Hudson County in the early 20th century is the poster child for this system. How can we lower our taxes when each county in the state is consuming over $1,250,000 per day to duplicate the services of the municipalities and the state? Jobs cannot be dismantled and the increases in pay are constant and with little or no opposition. Taxpayers that take their time and energy to show up and speak their mind are often laughed at and cut short by the freeholders holding the meetings. Who gets the jobs in county government? Relatives of the freeholders are holding the majority of the jobs. The argument in this economic crisis by my county to save the jobs of county workers is to cut services for the taxpayers. The latest in my county is closing a county run golf course at a time when baby boomers are being retired at a record pace and the other unemployed have too much time on their hands. Our course where you don’t have to pay county club fees is closed and plowed over in record time. In New Jersey the construction on county roads is a lifetime affair of holding up traffic and rerouting lanes, but the golf course is plowed over in record time. The employees who get to keep their jobs while private businesses are averaging several hundred thousand new unemployed per month. The worst part is because of their seniority all earn over $100,000 per year. Is it any wonder we are paying over a million a month for these bureaucrats and their relatives to stay employed? The pensions of these people will burden our children with taxes for years to come. What private company has a pension plan anymore? Everyone is ready to let General Motors die because they are bleeding red ink from the pensions of the past autoworkers.
New England has done the best job to address the problem by doing away with the county tax drains and giving the services to the municipalities and townships. If the State of New Jersey were a private business the reorganization of this type of money drain would have taken place years ago. But since they are funded by our tax dollars they are fighting for lifetime employment. It is time to resurrect the old adage for earth day to think globally and act locally. There is no advantage of blaming a 90-day-old President for a hundred years of duplicate services, jobs for life and pensions, which have not been available in the private sector for over 20 years. The taxpayer revolution has to start by streamlining the bloated government right in our states.
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