Report: NJ property taxes hit the poor hardest

ASBURY PARK, N.J. - People with lower incomes tend to pay a higher percentage of New Jersey's highest-in-the-nation property taxes, according to a study by Gannett New Jersey.

The study is contained in an eight-part series, "Fighting New Jersey's Tax Crush," which began Sunday.

New Jersey has the fifth-highest median income in the country, but property tax rates vary widely in the state's 566 municipalities. The disparities arise from the fact that New Jersey relies heavily on property taxes to pay for local government.

Because cities and older suburbs have more lower-income and elderly residents who need more government services, and because those communities have lost more of their tax base as wealthier homeowners have left for newer suburbs, lower-income residents often are stuck with the bill.

The Gannett study found a family earning $40,000 would pay 14 percent of its income to property taxes, while a family earning $126,000 would pay seven percent.

"Spending needs are often greatest where resources are least," Henry A. Coleman, a professor at Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, told Gannett.

Because income and race are closely linked, Gannett found that the more minorities in a municipality, the greater the likelihood that property taxes will take a bigger chunk of income.

The gap between rich and poor is most evident in northern New Jersey. A 2005 study by the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan found that the New York-northeastern New Jersey area is the most economically segregated of the country's 25 largest metropolitan centers.

New Jerseyans also don't fare well compared to the rest of the nation in the amount they spend on non-mortgage housing expenses, which include utilities and maintenance as well as taxes.

According to the U.S. Census, residents of Passaic and Hudson counties in northern New Jersey who own their homes and don't pay a mortgage spend 21 cents of every dollar they earn on housing costs , the highest rate of the nation's 1,882 counties. Ocean County is fifth at 20 cents per dollar.

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/new_jersey/20090927_ap_reportnjpropertytaxeshitthepoorhardest.html

Why Not Cover Undocumented Migrants?

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/4871/why_not_cover_undocumented_migrants
Here's an article offering POV you won't find elsewhere -- especially in these racially charged times in which angry people look for any scapegoat.

Most of you don't know that "illegals" pay taxes to the tune of 12 billion per year. In addition, they will never get the services they pay taxes for -- not saying it's wrong or right, just pointing out a little stated truth. This article proposes something radical: a common sense approach to a social issue...

"The political calculus is obvious. Americans are in an ugly mood and nothing riles up the bigots like the prospect of subsidizing "illegals." What they don't realize is that it would probably cost more to exclude undocumented migrants than to allow anyone to pay into the public option, regardless of citizenship.

First off, illnesses and accidents don't discriminate by status, and unpaid medical bills drive up prices for everyone.

More importantly, insurance is about spreading risk. All else being equal, the more premium-paying members an insurance plan has, the cheaper it will be for everyone."

Is It Time for Rangel to Resign?

House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel has had a pretty good run.

First elected in 1971, the Democratic representative from New York rose from being a high school dropout to leading one of the most influential committees in Congress. He is one of a handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus who have amassed power and influence that resulted last year in seeing one of its own catapulted to the White House.

As Ways and Means Chairman, Rangel is one of the highest ranking black members — and one of the most powerful members, period — in Congress. Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee in the House, and is in charge of all taxation, tariffs and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other programs including Social Security, unemployment benefits and Medicare.

Rangel has been a role model and confidant for congressional staffers and members alike. But lately he has come under increasing pressure to resign.

For a second time, The Washington Post is calling for Rangel to step aside as Ways and Means chairman. Earlier, The Buffalo, N.Y. News called for Rangel to step down. Both editorials came on the heels of a recent disclosure that the chairman massively underreported
his assets.

It’s not the first time.

Last year, a House ethics panel looked into allegations Rangel paid below-market rents for four apartments in a Harlem high-rise as well as his use of congressional letterhead to contact potential donors to an educational center that bears his name. He also failed to report income from a Florida condominium, and failed to pay taxes on a house in the Dominican Republic.

Conservatives, of course, have been calling for Rangel’s head for a while now.

“The arrogant elitist Rep. Charlie Rangel ... has proven to epitome [sic] of a scumbag politician. This arrogant New York politician should be made the poster child for corrupt politicians and Americans need to demand he made a [sic] example of,” writes Gregory Dail in the Washington Examiner, who went on to label Rangel “Crooked Charlie.”

That might come off as more than a little harsh. But even some Democrats are quietly questioning whether Rangel, who has trouble paying his own taxes, should be in charge of overseeing tax laws for the rest of us.

Continued Here.

Time for Rangel to Go?

Should Charles Rangel, D-NY, step down or be removed from the House Ways and Means Chairmanship?

Yes, definitely. He's a tax cheat.

 

 3

No. Everybody else does it, why not him?

 

 0

Maybe, somebody is probably setting him up.

 

 0

It doesn't matter whether he stays or goes

 

 0

Buffalo News: Rangel should resign

The Buffalo News has had enough of Charlie Rangel, following the disclosure that the House Ways and Means Chairman massively underreported his assets.

It'll be interesting to see if other papers follow suit. If the Times eventually draws the same conclusion [which they aren't likely to do prior to the conclusion of the interminable Ethics Committee probe], look out.

It’s the same old story for Rangel, who last year reluctantly acknowledged what he described as an inadvertent failure to report $75,000 in rental income for a beachfront property in the Dominican Republic. Then, many critics—including this page—called on him to step down from his chairmanship, at least until his professed innocence could be established. He didn’t.

Now, it gets worse. Newly-filed disclosures show that Rangel failed to report at least half a million dollars in assets in 2007. They also show that his net worth is between $1 million and $2.5 million, or about twice what he claimed in 2008.

This would be cause for uproar over any elected official, but when that official heads Congress’ finance—and tax— committee, it is intolerable. Once could be a mistake; an unlikely one, to be sure, but it is possible. The odds of simple error fall to near zero when it happens twice, and when both times are in your financial favor. We’d feel better about it if he accidentally paid taxes on more than he is worth, rather than less.

This is no longer just a problem for Rangel. It’s a problem for Pelosi and all House Democrats, including Brian Higgins of Buffalo and Louise Slaughter of Fairport. It’s a management problem now because Rangel’s shortcomings can— and will—be used to undermine the Democratic majority’s claim to power. And why not? If Democrats are willing to put up with this kind of behavior from one of the chamber’s most powerful members, they will have asked for an Election Day spanking.

This is Pelosi’s sternest test. She should give Rangel a week to do the right thing and then, if he doesn’t, she must.

IRS wins a skirmish in the war on wealth - MarketWatch

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/irs-wins-a-skirmish-in-the-war-on-wealth-2009-08-19
It's getting harder for the rich to hide their stash.