NEW JERSEY TAXPAYERS’ ASSOCIATION
ANNOUNCES
LEGISLATOR REPORT CARD INITIATIVE
Initiative designed to introduce greater accountability and transparency
into
New
Jersey’s state election process
Whitehouse Station, NJ –
August 16, 2007
- The New Jersey Taxpayers’ Association (NJTA), a statewide grass roots
organization dedicated to achieving real and sustainable tax reform in New
Jersey, today announced the introduction of its Legislator Report Card
initiative. Modeled after the National Taxpayers Union’s (NTU) annual
Congressional voting study1, the initiative is designed to grade members of
New Jersey’s 212th Legislature on their actual votes on key
Bills that significantly affect taxes, spending, debt and regulatory
burdens imposed on New Jersey residents and taxpayers.
The New Jersey taxpayer
ire has risen in the past decade yielding much rhetoric and reactionary
manipulations by ‘the talking heads of
Trenton’ but nothing of real substance has materialized. While the
average taxpayer has seen double digit annual increases for the past five
years, New Jersey’s legislative leadership has not been held accountable for
their actions. With the announcement of its Legislator Report Card
initiative, NJTA believes that it will introduce greater accountability
and transparency into
New Jersey’s state election process.
“Our objective is to hold
New Jersey’s leadership accountable for their actions while at the same
time clearly communicating that politically-driven, short-term tax
“relief” programs are unacceptable,” said Jerry Cantrell, NJTA President.
“We are dedicated to engaging and working closely with all candidates in
this year’s upcoming election - Democrats, Republicans and Independents
alike - that demonstrate the political courage and wherewithal to
bring about real and sustainable tax “reform” within our State.”
Tax reform, spending and
reducing our State’s debt have been and continue to be the central issues
facing New Jersey taxpayers. On November 12, 2004, The Silver Brigade (now
NJTA) formally announced the release of the organization’s TOP 10
legislative proposals. The proposals were developed to effect real tax
reform for all New Jersey property owners and taxpayers.
Following is a summary of
the proposal:
1.
Legislative action versus
Constitutional Convention
2. School Board & Fire elections timing So long as the public budget vote is not altered
3. Education Commissioner’s Override Power over voters
4. Regional/Centralized Purchasing Units for Local
Government and
School Districts
5. Expenditure Limitation Amendment Proposal(s)
6. Voter Approval of State Debt
7. Joint Revenue Forecasting Methods and Integrity
measurement criteria
8. Performance Audits of State/Local Governments
9. Ban/Manage Pay-To-Play
10. Uniform Standards for all agency reporting and
performance
Using the organization’s
10 point proposal as its basis to assign weights to key Bills and votes,
NJTA will grade members of the 212th New Jersey Legislature
based upon their conviction for reducing spending and regulation, their
opposition to raising taxes and/or simply shifting the tax burden from one
area to another and the long-term impact of their decisions on the fiscal
health of our State.
Data for the initiative,
including detailed descriptions of “Taxation”-related Bills and actual
voting records for the 212th Legislature, is being provided by
Princeton Desktop Systems, Inc., publishers of the BillTrak™ Legislative
Management System (www.billtrak.com).
With the support and consultation of the National Taxpayer’s
Union, NJTA has developed a grading methodology based upon a simple
zero to 100 point scoring system.
Scores will be tabulated,
recorded and assigned as a “PASS” (“P”) or “FAIL” (“F”) grade. To qualify
for a “P” grade, a member must have a taxpayer score of at least 65
points. NJTA believes a score qualifying for a grade of “P” indicates that
the member is one of the strongest supporters of responsible, long-term
tax and spending policies. The Legislator Report Cards will be available
to the general public at the NJTA website in mid-October.
“As a public service to New Jersey citizens and taxpayers,
our goal is to provide our members and indeed the general public at large
with the knowledge and tools needed to elect responsible officials and to
send the message that if change is not forthcoming we will replace the
non-performers with those who will fight for change,” Cantrell concluded.
About the New
Jersey Taxpayers’ Association
The New Jersey
Taxpayers’ Association is a statewide grass roots organization dedicated
to achieving real and sustainable tax reform in New Jersey. The
organization’s efforts are aimed at improving the quality of life in
New Jersey, for all its
citizens, by holding our elected officials and administrators personally
accountable for sound fiscal management of governmental institutions,
organizations and precious tax dollars. The NJTA is committed to
Excellence in Government while ensuring that elected officials are
fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities to the state and local
institutions and the citizenry at large. For more information, or to
become a member of NJTA, please visit our website
www.njtaxes.org or contact Jerry Cantrell at 973.252.9274 or email
jcantrell@njtaxes.org today.
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1.
To assure impartiality the underlying
methodologies were compared against similar efforts conducted by other
organizations in this space.
