I left NJ with my parents in 1971, while still in college. My wife followed after she graduated from a NJ University in 1976. So we beat them out of the current escape tax. I figure our net worth is at least 120% of what it might have been staying in NJ where they continue to promise to use State income and sales tax INCREASES to relieve property taxes. But of course that has not and never will happen. Oh the social injustice of the schools in Cherry Hill vs those in Camden, or those in Paterson vs Wayne or Franklin Lakes! Eventually the schemes to plunder the producers and retirees will result in the equalizing of this gross social injustice!!!!! Oh sure....It is going happen eventually but not without some even more draconian revenue enhancements. NJ will ALWAYS have a revenue shortage problem.
We have friends who have tried to list an unbuilt property for the last year but the zoning board has to square it with the goombahs. As by the example of the "Honorable" Senator Harrison Williams you know you gotta make the payoffs if you want things to move along. You still can't get a beer with a pizza in most pizza joints as NJ has one of the most susceptible to corruption liquor commissions in the country. Most of the pizza joints do indeed have great pizza! Without a FULL liquor license you can't sell beer or wine and the taxes on beer make a 12 pk of Presidente where available $15 vs the $11 to $12 I usually pay. But of course the PRESIDENTE for some reason is easier to find in the Garden State.
We did some Roth conversions last year and intentionally over paid our taxes so that our $5400 Federal tax refund will help in financing our larger Roth conversions this year. We did not pay any state income tax on that Conversion income. If the Dems could just raise the SALT deductions back up to $10K to $15K the "poor" folks living those 4000Sq Ft homes in Cherry Hill, Wayne, Franklin Lakes, and Upper Saddle River could also have gotten PLUS $5K Federal tax refunds. The Same folks who got the FEMA and other financial aid from Obama and his buddy Chris Christie who s6<|<ed up as required to get the billions in tax payer dollars for the hurricane damage relief on their +$2million homes "down ta da shore".
When the super fund was set up by the EPA NJ led the nation in the numbers of toxic waste sites. I grew up less than 200 yards from the WR Grace plant and it's sometimes green and sometimes purple waste pond. Whether it be the lakes or the shore, NJ could learn a lot from FL or HI on what ADEQUATE public access is. In Point Pleasant you can be fined $100 for using a public restroom just to change into or out of your bathing suit. $100 Fine if the cops catch you swimming in the Ocean after dark. What beach in Hawaii ENFORCES their bans on alcohol on the beach, except when some of that laid back society start making themselves a public nuisance? In Jan you can go down to a Hawaiian beach at 4AM and see the Big Dipper and the Southern Cross in the same night sky. You won't be harassed by any beach nazis.
Recently governor Murphy was interviewed on CNBC and described the NJ pension debacle as "very Manageable". That was soon after a state audit found that the underfunding was likely an additional $7 billion more than previously fessed up to.
Wanna get some great rates on Minis? Hey check out NJ. Great rates on GO's if they do not default or issue haircuts. A "NO fault" auto insurance state, NJ drivers take no prisoners. They love leaning on the horn when an outa state plate car stops at a stop sign. They might even rear end you AFTER the light turns red and become enraged asking why you stopped, across the street from a Police station.
Part of the Boston to DC megalopolis, NJ creates near 10% more millionaire incomes annually as it loses from those escaping to DE, FL, NH and some others of the 14 states that do not tax retiree incomes. But they don't let you outa of their hell hole until they get that exit tax. Something that still discourages some in the middle class from fleeing.
Now NJ has legal sports gambling! Things are getting a lot better with yet more tax revenue from the losers and from the winner's winnings!
This summer I have among my +35 tomato plants four "Rutgers" mid season plants. Maybe it's just a bit of nostalgia or maybe those seeds were on sale for a buck one Oct. I often wonder how much "South Jersey" loses on engagement ring purchases to DE. Maybe the Gestapo styled uniformed State police could go under cover and stake out those DE jewelers, and write down the NJ license plates. Buying jewelry in DE may not yet have been criminalized?
Of course there are some other he|_|_ holes like CT, RI, CA IL, and MIChigan ETC, that rival NJ in perniciously punishing those foolish enough to work hard long hours to get ahead. There's Tahoe as Incline Village, NV and then there is "TAHOE EAST".....
