Slippage Again
Back in July 2005 I wrote:
More locally, however, there is slippage too. Think about the popular rebate system in New Jersey. We all like to receive our rebates and when it was announced that the rebates were suspended this year, lots of folks cried Foul! Think about how much money it costs the state to return the money to us. Checks cost money. Postage costs money. The department overseeing the rebates cost money. The representatives who answer the telephone when someone calls cost money. The telephones cost money. And all this just to return money to you that you already paid. That seems pretty damn inefficient.
Jeff Edelstein, a reporter at The Trentonian, thinks so too. He has been digging into the budget that our lawmakers just agreed to for FY 2006. Each municipality receives state aid. That money is collected through our property taxes by the municipality. The municipality ships some of the taxes collected to Trenton. The fine folks in Trenton (who are paid, receive benefits, etc.) re-distribute those taxes back to the municipalities to pay for roads, fire and police protection, etc. What is the cost of doing this in the Garden State?
Ten million dollars!
The inefficiency of the system, as defined by slippage, is $10 million. That is highly inefficient. The squandered tax money came from our pockets and was placed in the pockets of a lot of government workers. Those workers receive salary increases each year and increasing health benefits. So, the ineffiency of the system is more than one year in length. This is how government grows.
Just because no one speaks about it doesn’t mean it has disappeared. Today there was a small AP article about this year’s rebate:
Property tax relief to homeowners and tenants in New Jersey will come as a rebate check in the fall.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine had wanted a direct credit against tax bills as a way to reduce the costs of the program. However, the governor said concerns about logistics and privacy wouldn’t make that feasible.
That cost is more than $10 million since everyone involved in t he program has received a couple raises since 2005.
Dear reader, when you contemplate the rebate program know that not only did this administration raise the sales tax last year to fund this year’s rebate, but it also did to pay the millions of dollars it costs to cut those checks. Next year, there is no money for any of it.
I am curious, who nixed the direct credit scheme? The answer to that would indicate real reporting.
Also blogged on this date . . .
- Casablanca, New Jersey-Style - 2008
- Dot . . . Dot . . . Dot . . . - 2008
- CafePress Changes - 2007
- Mystery Cache Archived - 2006
- Publicly Financing Baseball Teams - 2005
- Weekly Pros & Cons - 2005
Tags: budget, Corzine, money, property-tax, rebate, slippage, tax