BODY POLITIC

TRIAL BALLOONS FOR NJ TAXPAYERS

In politics, this is the time of year for trial balloons. At every level of government, various proposals are floated to gauge the temperature of the paying public. Some of the ideas suggested to the public may never see the light of day while others foreshadow what is to come.

Right now, Governor Jon Corzine is floating plenty of balloons. The new Governor has inherited a fiscal mess, and is looking to grab tax dollars from anywhere possible. To be fair, the fiscal jam that Corzine finds himself in was not created solely by the Democrats, but neither Jim McGreevey or Richard Codey, stood up to the party faithful and proposed real savings. There was pork under Republicans, but nowhere near the spending that McGreevey permitted during his reign.

One of the proposed revenue enhancers from the Corzine administration surrounds prior grants made to local municipalities. According to informed sources, the administration may take back any unexpended proceeds that have not been used by local governments. For instance, a municipality that was awarded a $500,000 DOT grant for road improvements could lose out on the remaining funds if the project is not complete. This money grab does not account for delays in planning or design that a local government often faces in public work projects. Should this trial balloon fly, uproar from local officials is sure to follow.

On higher levels, the public sees trial balloons all the time. Last year, President Bush proposed an overhaul of our social security system and that experiment died from lack of enthusiasm. On local levels, it is harder for small municipalities to float these red herrings because funding for programs is so difficult. The public is more likely to hear about proposed tax increases from their local officials in an effort to gauge local sentiment.

Like everything else, trial balloons come down to money. New Jersey is going through difficult times, and the Governor is rightly throwing everything on the wall to see what sticks, like an increased gas tax and new borrowing for the Transportation Trust Fund.

Time is on Corzine’s side and he has some political capital to expend, but you can be sure that whatever tax policy comes out of Trenton this summer, it has been broached to the public one way or the other.