By Rosemary Becchi
This summer, Governor Murphy rightly said “au revoir” to the Pompidou, a fancy French art museum project in Jersey City that was funded with $58 million in taxpayer money. While we are glad that this utter waste of taxpayer money is coming to an end, those millions of dollars should not be wasted on more projects that are only funded with funds.
Instead, the Murphy administration should redirect these funds to the state treasury so they can be used to provide tax relief for all New Jersey taxpayers. Our taxes are far too high for working families and small businesses, and we should not pay for yet another potentially politically motivated waste of money.
It was recently revealed that this year’s state budget included over $600 million in last-minute spending on so-called “Christmas tree items.” “Christmas tree items” are expenses added to the state budget by members of the majority party (in this case, the Democrats) without the public knowing, adding millions to the final state budget. These expenses can range from a new park for a senator’s town to $1.5 million for the Trenton Thunder’s baseball stadium – and all are paid for by New Jersey taxpayers.
Instead of focusing on which legislative district gets the most pork, shouldn’t we focus on making sure the next generation can even afford a pork bun in New Jersey? The thought may have escaped our politicians in Trenton, but that’s exactly what our Jersey1st interns have been working on.
Our 43 Gen Z interns are spending the summer looking for ways to make New Jersey affordable for young people. They all agree that it starts with cutting unnecessary spending so we can lower taxes, which will ultimately make New Jersey a better place to live, learn, work and retire.
According to Jersey1st’s team of interns, New Jersey is facing a severe affordability crisis as rising costs of property taxes, transportation, and daily living make it difficult for Generation Z to maintain a sustainable lifestyle. Urgent action is needed to address these challenges and ensure economic stability for Generation Z.
Their plan, called the New Jersey Prosperity Project, focuses on solutions to New Jersey’s chronic problems – transportation, property taxes and employment.
To make transportation more affordable, they propose offering student passes and discounts for New Jersey residents on NJ Transit, as well as gradually reducing the gas tax. To make New Jersey more affordable for young people overall, they propose reducing the sales tax and expanding goods and services tax exemptions.
There is a very real brain drain of young college graduates in our state. According to ChooseNJ, New Jersey loses about 20,000 college graduates to other states each year. In order for the Garden State to remain economically competitive, we must stop this brain drain. That can only start with making New Jersey more affordable.
Instead of looking for ways to spend more of our tax dollars, I urge New Jersey lawmakers to have conversations with families and our younger generation about how they can help save more of our tax dollars.
Only by shifting the debate to saving taxpayers’ money can we achieve real affordability in the Garden State and stop the migration of young people from New Jersey.
Rosemary Becchi is president of the Morristown-based advocacy organization Jersey1st.
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