file photo by Boyd Loving
12:05 a.m. ET Feb. 21, 2017
Why is New Jersey forcing senior citizens to flee the state?
After decades of contributing as full-fledged members of our communities throughout New Jersey, we find ourselves increasingly forced to flee the state due to the burdensome and discriminatory nature of property taxes for seniors on fixed incomes.
New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation, an average of $8,500 per year versus the national average of $3,800. However, you know these facts. What you don’t know is that for senior citizens, who often live in adult communities to reduce their expenses, the property tax burden is disproportionately higher — often 17-20 percent of a senior’s annual income, and climbing.
The issue of taxes is always a complicated decision for leaders, to allocate resources equitably among disparate interests and groups. The Abbott decision, for example, appropriately (and importantly) required the commitment of state education funding to support urban districts. But funding decisions by the governor and state Legislature, over time, had unintended consequences as well.
The shifting of aid to education in some areas of the state, without increasing overall state aid to education, has resulted in communities being forced to fund local education through higher property taxes. The unintended — but real consequence of this trend — has resulted in retirees (on fixed incomes) being forced to pay disproportionately higher taxes.
https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/opinion/letters/2017/02/21/new-jersey-seniors-taxes/98172656/
