Only in New Jersey

In another example of “Only in New Jersey”, the Garden State is working on legislation that would classify cocktail waitresses at the Taj as essential state workers. Well, not quite, but it has the same effect.  When Gov. Corzine shut state government down two summers ago in order to raise taxes, casinos were shut down because the oversight of the casinos requires state employees. That caused the state to lose money. With this legislation, casinos would remain open when politics are played because, you know, gambling is so essential.

To prove how essential it is, another bill is working its way through state government (A2471, not online yet). It seems like Trenton is blackmailing the casinos to subsidize the struggling horse racing industry in the state. If the casinos pony up $90 million, they’ll receive a perpetual tax break for the giveaways they use to lure marks customers.  Of course, the race tracks will not install video gaming machines that would make the casinos unhappy.

While I am not against tax breaks, it is disingenuous to blackmail the industry to prop up another.

Also blogged on this date . . .

Tags: , , , ,

One Response to “Only in New Jersey”

  1. By Bob on Apr 11, 2008

    Corzine signed the legislation today. If horse racing were a profitable business in NJ, it would not have needed the governor to play the heavy in this.

Post a Comment

By submitting a comment here you grant ladow.net a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution.