Report: Middle Class Property Taxes Higher Under Christie

Despite running a reelection campaign that touts his reduction in overall property taxes in the state, out-of-pocket property tax payments have climbed nearly 19 percent in New Jersey since Gov. Chris Christie took office, according to a new report from NJ Spotlight.

That's compared with a 6 percent net rate during the final term of Gov. Jon Corzine's, the report claims.

The net increase in actual out-of-pocket property tax payments by New Jersey residents occurred even though the 2 percent cap and other policies pushed through by Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) limited the actual growth of property tax bills to just 8.3 percent from 2009 to 2012, compared to a 12.95 percent increase in Corzine's last three years.

David Rousseau, who served as Corzine's state treasurer, told NJ Spotlight: "The real impact of these policy changes is that the property tax burden on the middle class has increased exponentially with the virtual elimination of rebates.

"But on upper-income people, there has been no impact."

The report claims that New Jersey residents earning more than $500,000—the wealthiest 2 percent of the most densely populated state in the nation—have benefited from policies that do not touch the income tax credits for the first $10,000 of property taxes assessed.

"That tax credit is worth $897 to New Jerseyans in the top tax bracket, but a maximum of $245 to a New Jersey family making $50,000 to $70,000," the report says.

That same top 2 percent did not receive any income tax rebates in 2009 under Corzine, as part of a "one-year 'millionaire’s tax' surcharge," the report notes, which Christie did not extend.

"As a result," the report notes, "since 2010, those making over $500,000 have received $897 income tax credits on their property taxes that are greater than the property tax relief received by the overwhelming majority of New Jerseyans."

It continues:

Christie has continued to call for a tax cut as his re-election campaign rolls out.

Approval of a $1.4 billion phased-in property tax credit program would push direct property tax relief back up to -- or even above -- the record levels provided by Corzine in 2007.

But the pressure of providing an additional $600 million a year for pensions each of the next five years, the state economy's slow recovery from the recession, and the built-in costs of already approved business tax cuts, unfunded retiree health benefits, and future Medicaid growth make it difficult to see where the state can come up with $1.4 billion more for property tax relief without some sort of tax increase.

Read the full story on NJ Spotlight.