Some More Clarity

An article in today's NYT illustrates with even greater clarity that Gov. Jon Corzine was not speaking in favor of supply-side economics in his comments to a New Jersey newspaper. The article relates how in many states the growth in the tax burden represented by the property tax has outstripped the growth of individual income. The Times quotes Corzine as follows:

"It is all too clear to everyone: The property tax burden is simply overwhelming our citizens and their economic well-being," Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey said to the State Legislature on July 28 as it gathered for the special session. "Our citizens pay through the roof for a tax that is imposed without any regard to income or ability to pay."

Of course, the ability of any state, particularly geographically small states such as New Jersey, to shift the tax burden to the more well-off is limited because the well-off can more easily "take a walk" and move to lower tax states.