Over the years, I’ve referred to New Jersey as the swamplands. Their politics, corruption, and tax policies left a lot to be desired. But something unusual happened in 2010: Chris Christie, a Republican, was elected governor in the historically Democratic state. This past week Governor Christie decided he’d like to improve on the Tax Foundation’s ranking of New Jersey as the worst state in the country for taxes; he proposed a 10% across-the-board cut to the state’s income tax.
I do need to point out that even with a 10% cut New Jersey’s top income tax rate would be 8%. That’s quite high, but in comparison to the nearly 13% a New York City resident would pay it’s not that bad.
I have no idea if Governor Christie will be successful or not but the Wall Street Journal noted that his proposal has caused Democrats to propose lowering other taxes. Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown of California proposes higher taxes. If both Governors are succesful I suspect that next year California and New Jersey will swap places on the Tax Foundation’s rankings so that the Bronze Golden State will truly be tarnished.