DeCROCE: CORZINE SHOULD DROP ANY PLANS FOR PROPERTY TAX REBATE CUT

Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce today called on Governor Jon Corzine to drop any consideration of eliminating property tax rebates in next year’s budget and pointed out that this is exactly why Republicans have repeatedly called for property tax relief to be constitutionally dedicated.

 “When Republicans proposed our property tax relief program we called for a constitutional dedication of the relief to ensure that it would not be eliminated in future budgets,” said DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. “We can now see that without this constitutional safeguard it is too easy for Trenton Democrats to pull the plug on tax relief rather than making real spending cuts.”

Millennium Radio News reported this morning that Governor Corzine has acknowledged next year’s property tax rebates may be in jeopardy stating that “We’re hopeful that we'll be able to sustain them, but I can’t promise anything in this environment.”

Corzine made cuts to the eligibility threshold for the property tax rebate program in this year’s budget breaking a promise to many taxpayers that the rebates would last beyond the 2007 elections. When the new rebate program was approved in 2007 Republicans had warned that the program might not be sustained beyond one year and had suggested that any property tax relief program must be constitutionally dedicated to make it a priority even during tough fiscal times.

“New Jersey families are facing enough economic difficulty right now without the state imposing what will effectively be a tax hike,” DeCroce said. “The governor should begin looking at the $1.32 billion in budget savings we identified last spring before he contemplates cutting back on this much-needed property tax relief.”

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