Kyrillos: “Millionaires Tax” hurts the poor and middle class

By Senator Joe Kyrillos

Senator Joe Kyrillos

Nobody ever felt sorry for a millionaire. At least that’s the principle some Democrats in Trenton are banking on as they resurrect former Gov. Jon Corzine’s “millionaires tax” to close the expected budget gap for fiscal 2015. Proponents of this tax increase promise it will hit only the wealthy, but in fact, poor and middle-class families will ultimately shoulder the burden.

Of course, the term “millionaires tax” is a misnomer. New Jersey already taxes the income of millionaires at one of the highest rates in the nation — higher than 44 other states do. The so-called millionaires tax is just an expired tax increase that raises New Jersey’s top tax rate to about 11 percent, the third-highest in the United States.

Proponents of the millionaires tax imagine that the only reason people could oppose this tax hike is that they’re worried New Jersey’s well-to-do will run low on caviar if it’s passed.

Actually, what we’re worried about is the impact on New Jersey’s working families.

As it turns out, millionaires don’t like paying high taxes any more than the rest of us do. But unlike most of us, they can easily move out of New Jersey to avoid new tax hikes. For many, changing their tax residence is as simple as spending a few more weeks a year at their vacation home in Florida. They can keep a house in New Jersey to spend time with the grandkids, live for six months and one day in the Florida home, and voilà, they are Florida residents who no longer owe a dime in New Jersey taxes. As a bonus, their children will escape paying New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation estate tax.

It’s little wonder that in 2010, the last year we had the old Corzine millionaires tax on the books, 88,000 individuals left New Jersey, taking with them a total annual income of $5.5 billion.

The millionaires tax could be more aptly named the “Goodbye New Jersey Tax.”

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Kyrillos: Court Ruling Offers Blueprint for NJ Teacher Tenure Changes

By Senator Joe Kyrillos

A JUNE 10 California court ruling that teacher tenure laws are unconstitutional and violate students’ rights to quality education signals the need for further education reforms in New Jersey and other states across the country.

New Jersey was the first state to pass tenure legislation more than 100 years ago, and despite bipartisan reforms enacted two years ago, many antiquated state education laws still persist.

In 2012, the Legislature and Governor Christie compromised to pass a bipartisan reform law, addressing teacher tenure and the teacher dismissal process. Although it was a good first step, that effort came up short because public teachers’ unions had enough influence over the Legislature to preserve policies such as “last-in, first-out.”

LIFO forces schools to ignore educator effectiveness and lay off high-performing, bright educators, instead of ineffective, more senior ones.

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Obama diverts $1 billion in Sandy funds away from New Jersey

Kyrillos and Holzapfel cry foul

Sen. Joe Kyrillos

President Barack Obama announced that he is diverting nearly $1 billion in Hurricane Sandy recovery funds away from New Jersey and New York to fund a nationwide resiliency competition that will ostensibly help the winning communities build infrastructure to deal with the impacts of climate change.

Obama announced the competition last weekend at the University of California Irvine’s commencement, according to The Star Ledger. 

“In some parts of the country, weather-related disasters like droughts and fires and storms and floods are going to get … harsher and they’re going to get costlier,” Obama said during the speech. “That’s why today I’m announcing a new one billion dollar competitive fund to help communities prepare for the impacts of climate change and build more resilient infrastructure across the country.”

State Senators Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth)and Jim Holzapfel (R-Ocean)l condemned the diversion of recovery funds away from their constituents.

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In GOP U.S. Senate Primary: Write-in Joe Kyrillos

By Art Gallagher

Sen. Joe Kyrillos and Mayor Fred Rast greeting voters in Atlantic Highlands last year. photo by Art Gallagher

Several MMM readers have asked  me to endorse of a U.S. Senate candidate to take on Senator Cory Booker.  I can’t endorse, or vote for, any of the four candidates who are on the ballot this Tuesday.

I’m writing in Joe Kyrillos on Tuesday. If this post goes viral, Joe Kryillos could be the U.S. Senate Republican nominee on Tuesday night.  That’s how bad the U.S. Senate primary campaign has been.  Booker would then have a fight on his hands.  Share this post.

None of the four candidates on the ballot can make Booker break a sweat this fall.

None of the candidates on the ballot have raised enough money for a county freeholder race, never mind a statewide race for U.S. Senate.  Booker has spent over $12 million on his re-election bid since the first of the year. He had $2.9 million in cash on hand as of May 14.

State Senator Joe Kyrillos, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in 2012, has refunded more money to his federal donors this year that any of the current Republican candidates have raised.

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Kyrillos Blasts HUD For Keeping Sandy Victims From Rebuidling

State Senator Joe Kyrillos came out swinging this afternoon regarding the news that the Department of Housing and Urban Development denied the Christie Administration’s request to allow victims of Superstorm Sandy to continue to rebuild their homes while they are applying for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) grants.

Kyrillos implored HUD officials and New Jersey’s congressional delegation to do whatever is necessary to allow Sandy devastated residents to rebuild their lives.

“It’s ridiculous, to say the least, that the people of New Jersey are being denied access to grant money because they are trying to rebuild their lives after the worst storm ever,” Kyrillos said. “The people of my district and the surrounding areas were some of the hardest hit and their federal government should not be hindering their recovery. Our home owners should be able to rebuild as they apply for grant money and I urge our congressional delegation to get to work immediately”

Senator Kyrillos added that the people deserve a reasonable return on their federal tax dollars in the form of Sandy grants.

“A lot of good has come out of the $1.83 billion in initial aid to New Jerseyans, but the reality is that more resources are needed for this state to recover from nearly $37 billion in damages,” Kyrillos said. “New York has received about $4 billion more, so the time is now for HUD officials and our congressmen to turn their eyes to our state.”

The Associated Press reported today that HUD denied a Christie Administration request to waive a rule that all reconstruction work must stop when a property owner applies for RREM grants.   The federal government wants be sure that historical structures are protected and that the properties are rebuilt to the new elevation standards.  No work that is completed prior to a HUD approval of the plans will be reimbursed with RREM grants, even if the work complies with the standards.

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Kyrillos: Economic Opportunity Act Should Lead To More Tax Reform

With bi-partisan fanfare, Governor Chris Christie signed the Economic Opportunity Act yesterday afternoon. The new law,which Christie reshaped with his conditional veto, is far-reaching legislation designed to make New Jersey more competitive in economic development and job creation.

Economic incentives for business and development will now be more generous and easier to obtain.

State Senator Joe Kyrillos, a primary sponsor of the bill, celebrated the enactment of the legislation and called for more comprehensive tax reform.

“We got this done to boost New Jersey’s private-sector economy, because many Republicans and Democrats realize that this legislature desperately needs to do more to attract and retain job creators,” said Kyrillos (R-Monmouth). “We came together; we compromised to create more opportunities for New Jersey families. This should be the bridge to comprehensive tax reform that New Jerseyans have been waiting on for far too long.”

“It is encouraging that Democratic prime sponsor Senator Lesniak acknowledged the following during Thursday’s session: ‘We know that New Jersey cannot compete not only with our surrounding states but we can’t compete internationally because of the cost of doing business here we know is high,’” Kyrillos added. “This is a problem that Senate Republicans have tried to permanently address for years. With more Democrats now realizing the issue, the chances that this legislature will finally fix this state’s non-competitive tax structure are much better. When we get this done, residents won’t have fear that our sons and daughters will be forced to flee this costly state to start their families elsewhere, or that they won’t be able to find solid jobs because employers can’t afford to operate here.”

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What is Booker Hiding? Why?

Neither Booker nor Lonegan have been as forthcoming as Mendenez and Kyrillos were last year

© Jim Urquhart / Reuters;

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Cory Booker has not released his tax returns, despite a promise to do so, according to the New York Post.

“We will release his tax returns,” vowed Booker campaign spokesman Kevin Griffis more than two weeks ago, yesterday claiming Booker “will continue to raise the bar on transparency — both in this election, and if elected, in the US Senate.”

GOP nominee Steve Lonegan provided three years of returns exclusively to The Post.  The paper said that Lonegan earned $515,280 in 2012, mostly from property sales, and paid nearly $100,000 in federal taxes.

Lonegan said Booker is refusing to release his returns because he used his office, Newark Mayor, to accumulate personal wealth.

“It’s indicative of the fact that he’s got something to hide,” Lonegan told The Post. “It’s clear to me that Booker leveraged the office of mayor . . . to gain wealth.”

The Post has previously reported that Booker received an undisclosed amount in an equity payout from the law firm he was a partner in before being elected mayor. The payout was made from 2007 through 2011.  During that time the firm, Trenk DiPasquale,  collected more than $2 million in fees from local agencies that Booker has direct influence over.

The New York Times reported in May that Booker has earned $1.3 million in speaking fees since becoming mayor and that his Newark home is assessed at $406,000. He earns a salary of $174,496 as mayor.

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Kyrillos not running for U.S. Senate

Sen. Joe Kyrillos and Mayor Fred Rast greeting voters in Atlantic Highlands. photo by Art Gallagher

The National Review is quoting anonymous sources that say State Senator Joe Kyrillos will not be a candidate in the Special Primary for U.S. Senate on August 13.

“He’s one of Jersey’s leading Republicans, but this campaign doesn’t make sense for him right now,” says a source close to the governor. “I bet he’ll run statewide again, but he won’t rush it.”

Kyrillos told MMM Wednesday afternoon that he was not pursuing the seat, but would not speculate about what he would do if Governor Chris Christie asked him to run or accept the temporary appointment.

Petitions for candidates in the Democratic and Republican Special Primaries are due on Monday afternoon, June 10. 1000 signatures are required to qualify as a candidate.

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Kyrillos was awakened by dirty trick robo call. Blames call on Bellew campaign

Sen. Joe Kyrillos and Mayor Fred Rast greeting voters in Atlantic Highlands. photo by Art Gallagher

In a get out the vote email to his supporters this afternoon, State Senator Joe Kyrillos said that he and his wife were awakened at 4am this morning by the dirty trick robo call, and that his primary opponents are responsible for the call.

I also want to address the 4 a.m. robo-call many are talking about. Susan and I were awoken by it as well, and I can assure you it’s not how we wanted to start our day either. The fact is it was a dirty trick by our opponents who wanted to make it look like it came from our campaign. The matter is being covered by several news outlets and the incident is being investigated by the prosecutor’s office. It is a shame politics has come to this.

No one from the Bellew for State Senate campaign or the Bayshore Tea Party Group have responded to multiple requests for comment on the robo call.

They have the right to remain silent.

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NJ Right To Life Defends Kyrillos And Handlin Against Bellew’s ‘Misinformation’

Pro-Life Advocate Endorses O’Scanlon In LD13 Primary

Marie Tasy, Executive Director of New Jersey Right to Life issued a statement last night refuting the “misinformation” being circulated by State Senate Candidate Leigh-Ann Bellew and her Bayshore Tea Party Group backed running mates in the 13th legislative district Republican primary.

Tasy was quoted in a mailer sent by the Bellew/Bayshore Tea Party slate as saying that Senator Joe Kyrillos voted in favor of partial birth abortion.

In her statement to MoreMonmouthMusings, Tasy went into painstaking detail to list Kyrillos’s votes against partial birth abortion. She said that bill cited in Bellew’s mailer that Kyrillos voted for, S1909, was a “bill filled with very technical, scientific jargon that was rammed through the Senate at breakneck speed.” The bill legalized embryonic stem cell research and cloning, NOT partial birth abortion.  Tasy said that many Senators voted for the bill without fully understanding it.  Subsequently, Kyrillos voted against the funding of embryonic stem cell/cloning research with increased taxes and bonding.

Tasy noted that Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon were not legislators when the partial birth abortion and embryonic stem cell/cloning research bills were voted on.

Tasy’s statement is particularly extraordinary because Kyrillos is pro-choice on abortion.  Tasy said she is not defending Kyrillos, but setting the record straight on the misinformation campaign.

 I am not writing to defend Senator Kyrillos’ record and well known position on abortion, but to set the record straight on the misinformation campaign that is being circulated regarding his voting record and the positions of Assemblyman O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Handlin.  It should be noted that Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin were NOT  in the legislature at the time these bills were voted on and  therefore did  not vote on any of these bills.

“It says a lot about our opponents who call themselves conservatives that someone as highly respected in the Pro-Life community as Marie Tasy would take the time to refute the misinformation in their literature,” said O’Scanlon, “This is further confirmation of what I’ve been saying throughout the campaign, Bellew, her running mates, and the Bayshore Tea Party Group’s leadership have no integrity.”

Neither Bellew nor Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez responded to an invitation to comment.

Tasy’s statement can be read in its entirety below:

I am writing to set the record straight regarding some misinformation that is being circulated in mailers to voters in the the 13th legislative district. Read the rest of this entry »

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