NJEA-backed Democrats will raise property taxes

Warning:  In accepting the NJEA's endorsement, Democrat candidates Kate Matteson, Gina Trish, and Jennifer Hamilton have signed-on to the NJEA's disastrous plan to un-cap property taxes.

In 2010, the New Jersey Legislature passed legislation to cap increases in local property taxes at 2 percent.  They did so, according to figures from the Star-Ledger, because local government spending had increased by 70 percent since 2000 and the average property tax bill had gone from $4,429 to $7,281.  As the Star-Ledger noted: 

" Local governments rely heavily on property taxes, the one tax voters routinely identify as their biggest concern. At a combined $45 billion, local governments spend more money than the state does with its annual budget of about $30 billion. Not surprisingly, New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation."

The NJEA's legislative agenda would undo the 2-percent cap and take us back to the days of the McGreevey and Corzine administrations, when local property taxes were going up by an average of 7 percent every year.

The NJEA is the state teachers' union.  The NJEA does not represent the views of many ordinary teachers -- most of whom are forced to pay unnecessarily high property taxes in order to reside in New Jersey.