What can the Greens do to lower property taxes?

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What can the Greens do to lower property taxes?

Property taxes are affected by actions taken at all levels of government: national, state, and local. When funding for various services is not forthcoming from the higher levels of government then the local government is left holding the bag. Hence more property taxes. In recent years the federal government has provided less and less aid to the states, and the states have, in turn, provided less and less aid to the local governments.

I will first address the issue of tax laws, which originate primarily in the federal and state legislatures. I will then address the issue of waste in spending, which is often at the local level and which is often the result of political paybacks.

The federal government has made some very deep tax cuts since the Bush administration came in, and the reduced funding for state and local governments is the direct result. The bulk of these tax cuts have been for capital gains, stock dividends, other investment income, and inheritance. The effect of these tax cuts, as intended, is to nearly eliminate income taxes on “unearned” income. So the bulk of the federal budget is placed on the backs of wage-earners, meaning the middle class. The very wealthy, whose income comes primarily from existing money making more money, are now paying taxes on just a tiny percentage of their income.

Perhaps the most insidious of these tax cuts is on the inheritance tax. There were already no taxes on the first 2 million dollars of inheritance. If the President and Congress were concerned about the retention of small businesses and family farms, as they claimed, they could have raised that figure to say 10 million. Instead the Congress, with the support of many Democrats as well as the Republicans, has totally eliminated the inheritance tax. This means that someone like Bill Gates can literally leave 50 billion dollars to his heirs and they will pay zero in taxes.

The taxes paid by corporations are also in a steep decline, thanks to tax shelters and legislated tax breaks to various companies for various reasons.

All of the tax cuts mentioned, corporate or personal, are the result of our legislators taking campaign contributions from large corporations and their super-rich CEOs.

The federal government has made up for the loss of those taxes by cutting aid to the states, which then cut aid to the local governments. So the taxes which used to be collected on the unearned income of the very wealthy have been passed on to homeowners in the form of property taxes. (Don’t be confused by the war spending. The plan to cut aid to the states was already being implemented prior to the War on Terror.)

The Green Party advocates progressive taxation, which means that as the amount of a person’s income goes up so does the percentage of taxes. Those tax cuts for investment income would be eliminated and the overall income would be taxed at the new rates, which would be higher than now for the very wealthy and lower than now for the working poor. The result would be more income taxes collected, all of the increase coming from the wealthy, which would relieve property taxes. Those who profit the most from our free society should give the most back. (Incidentally, progressive federal income taxes were the norm back in the 1970s and prior. That was before the large corporations controlled both major political parties via campaign funding.)

The Greens also advocate the reinstatement of the inheritance tax, the raising of taxes on corporations, and the closing of corporate loopholes.

The New Jersey state legislature, like the U.S. Congress, has the option of enacting a progressive state income tax to make the wealthy pay their fair share and thus reduce property taxes. Unfortunately the Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature also receive campaign contributions from corporations.


Now let’s consider what can be done at the local level to cut spending.

The one huge thing we can do is to eliminate Pay-to-Play. This is the practice of awarding no-bid contracts to campaign contributors. The New Jersey legislature has recently enacted a rather inadequate Pay-to-Play law. Part of what makes it inadequate is that it applies to state contracts only, making Pay-to-Play legal at the county and municipal level. Only a handful of municipalities and 2 counties have enacted their own Pay-to-Play laws. Gloucester County is not among them.

No-bid contracts are very likely to be inflated contracts. That is the whole point of the bidding process. And contracts given for the purpose of repaying campaign contributors may even be questionable in terms of the services being necessary. Just recently the local papers exposed a no-bid contract given by Gloucester County to a PR firm which is known to make political contributions. A hundred thousand dollars was paid to this firm whose primary assignment was to come up with a county slogan. It may be presumed that many other such contracts have not come to the attention of the press, given the myriad departments, boards and councils that come under the auspices of the County Freeholders.

There are also ways to repay campaign contributors which go beyond service contracts. The biggest campaign contributors in the State of New Jersey, as a group, are the developers. The county is regularly involved in development projects, land-use planning, and administering land-preservation grants. The county is in a position to help developers find and acquire land, to have land zoned for development, and to give developers “incentives” in the form of county-provided infrastructure, services, tax breaks, or subsidies.

The potential to waste vast amounts of taxpayer money through no-bid contracts and “corporate welfare” for developers and others exists at the county level. Considering that Pay-to-Play is legal here, and that at least some no-bid contracts are known to exist, this should be a serious concern to homeowners who pay property taxes.

Green Party candidates are in a unique position to fight Pay-to-Play. That is because Green Party candidates will not accept campaign contributions from corporations, other businesses, PACs or other special interests. We owe nothing to corporate campaign contributors in either perception or in fact. Not even to lean in their direction on close calls or minor issues. Because the only campaign contributors we have are people.

Placing even one Green, such as myself, on a Board of Freeholders which is otherwise all Democrats will help curb no-bid contracts and corporate welfare. As a Freeholder I will see what is going on. I will view the county government from my background as a senior systems analyst and from my value system as a Green. When I see things I don’t like I will raise the issues with the board and with the public.

I don’t like Pay-to-Play, and I don’t like corporate welfare.



Charles Woodrow
Candidate for Gloucester County Freeholder