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Buono would raise sale taxes

Lost in the headlines of yesterday’s special election is the fact that State Senator Barbara Buono would not rule out raising New Jersey’s 7% sales tax, if elected governor, during her debate with Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday night.

Governor Christie noted that the Democrats, with Buono as the Senate Budget Chair, shut down New Jersey’s government in 2006 when Jon Corzine was governor, because they couldn’t agree how high to raise the sales tax.

Assembly Republican Budget Officer Declarn O’Scanlon issued the following statement regarding Buono’s  taxing vision for New Jersey:

“Sen. Buono tells everyone that she doesn’t believe in ‘trickle down’ economics. But her failure to rule out an increase in the sales tax clearly shows she is fine with sending a tsunami of economic pain on middle class workers and their families.

“At a time when New Jersey is in the middle of an economic recovery, she has no concept of what a public policy disaster that proposal would be to creating jobs and maintaining our momentum. Increasing the sales tax is regressive and would further impact the most heavily taxed people in the country. It effectively sends the message to consumers to shop elsewhere and keeps New Jersey from being competitive with surrounding states. I am glad she no longer chairs the Senate Budget Committee. We are still trying to recover from the damage done to our economy.

“The fact that Sen. Buono doesn’t regret any of the 150-plus tax increases she voted for during her time in the Legislature tells voters she has no remorse for taking their hard-earned money out of their pocketbooks. One would have thought she learned of all the harm all those taxes inflicted. People moved out of our state. Businesses either relocated or expanded their operations elsewhere. Sen. Buono’s economic policies would send our state back to the same place where we were for the eight years Democrats had total control of Trenton . Those days are finished and so is Sen. Buono’s career in politics.”

Posted: October 17th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 2013 Election, 2013 Gubernatorial Politics, Barbara Buono, Declan O'Scanlon, Taxes | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments »