By Doug Steinhardt
When I was in law school, I played piano at local piano bars to help support myself. I’ve always been a jazz music fan, and one of my favorite quotes is from jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, who said, “The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.”
I always thought that wisdom liberating. It reminds me there is no script for creating or problem solving. It’s also a great measure of self-accountability. If Monk’s quote taught me anything it’s that in life, I’m my only obstacle. I never blame the piano if the song doesn’t sound right.
When I hear Gov. Phil Murphy talk about New Jersey and our affordability crisis, it sounds a lot like he‘s blaming the piano. He describes New Jersey as a place where families and businesses should just accept high taxes. He admitted as much when he said, ”If you’re a one-issue voter and tax rate is your issue…we’re probably not your state.”
After the governor’s 2020 budget address, it is clear that he has settled comfortably into accepting that New Jersey will always be unaffordable, and we will always be the nation’s No. 1 exporter of jobs, businesses and family members. Phil Murphy is oddly at peace with the fact that our children can’t afford to start their lives here and our parents and grandparents can’t afford to retire here.
I’m proud to be the chairman of the NJGOP because I reject that mentality and know that New Jersey can be more affordable. Family is worth fighting for, and that fight starts with admitting that the governor is no Thelonious Monk. Phil Murphy is the wrong pianist playing the wrong notes.
For decades Democrats have been singing the same, tired song. But the honest answer is, we can’t tax and spend our way to solvency.
For the two years I’ve been chairman, we’ve advocated a single, simple message: New Jersey government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. While the governor is willing to mortgage and tax your family’s future for the cost of his sanctuary state, so-called “free” college and a host of special interest giveaways, the honest answer is, we can’t afford it, and neither can you.
Governor Murphy’s 2020 budget is built around yet another income tax. At $40 billion, it is the largest in New Jersey history and grew faster than the state’s gross domestic product. His communications team has been working overtime to try and sell New Jersey residents on the idea that if we only tax people who can “afford” it, he’ll have enough taxes to fund his radical, liberal agenda.
Except, New Jersey voters are smarter than that. We know that any new income tax will eventually find its way to the middle class. The governor’s own caucus has been reluctant to embrace his plan, since it perpetuates the state’s problems, without really solving them.
But they are solvable. At NJGOP, we’ve been advocating four, simple steps: reduce state taxes (tackle pensions and health care), relax state regulations (end COAH and the inequities in the state’s school funding formula), reward hard work (give tax credits for college tuition and tax breaks to seniors and small business), and respect the United States Constitution (by embracing the Bill of Rights, not trampling it). And, that’s just the start.
There’s nothing inherently unaffordable about our home state. Don’t blame the piano. Instead, change the pianist. Every election is a chance to elect a better band. Under this band leader, though, every sharp and flat is another tax and fee, and instead of playing Bon Jovi’s “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” Phil Murphy keeps playing the Beatle’s “Tax Man.”
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat
If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet
‘Cause I’m the taxman.
Doug Steinhardt is chairman of the state Republican Party.
Stupid liberals, they have their head up their ass to