By Arthur Maurice
NJBIA First Vice President
NJPRO Board of Trustees Member

Convening a state constitutional convention to reduce property taxes is gaining currency among political leaders anxious to show voters their commitment to cut taxes.

I have a better idea for lawmakers anxious to cut property taxes. "Just do it."

Reducing property taxes should not require 12 months, $15 million of taxpayer money, 90 delegates, one statewide special election, and two statewide ballot questions - all mandated under this convention proposal. Because the convention is prohibited from even investigating whether government spending is excessive and can be cut, it has little chance of accomplishing its goals and thus would be a colossal waste of time and money.

Unfortunately in New Jersey, plenty of tax money is already collected, including property, income, sales and business taxes. One quick way to reduce property taxes is to pay for school and other local costs, like police and fire, with other existing taxes.

This approach is not novel. New Jersey, like other states, already pays billions of dollars to reduce property taxes. Clearly, though, New Jersey isn't doing enough. The Garden State enjoys the dubious distinction of having the highest property-tax burden in the nation. Measured on a per-capita basis, for example, it came to $1,744 in 1998, more than twice the national average.

A good place to find the extra money needed to offset property taxes is the state budget. In fiscal 2003 New Jersey state government will collect approximately $23 billion from its taxpaying citizens and businesses. If you subtract the money the state already spends to reduce property taxes (through municipal and school aid), this still leaves state government with another $12 billion. That $12 billion represents more than $1,400 for every man, woman and child in New Jersey.

The real question is how would New Jersey taxpayers like their tax money to be used-to finance a bloated state bureaucracy or to reduce their property taxes? I have a suspicion that supporters of the constitutional convention already know the answer to this question.

The number one priority for New Jersey taxpayers, particularly businessmen and women who do not benefit from homestead rebates and NJ Saver programs, is lower property taxes. Rather than hold a costly, time-consuming convention, our state's political leadership should define what exactly state government should be doing with tax dollars, including the ability to further reduce property taxes.

This means resetting spending priorities, deciding what state government should and should not be doing, and reallocating resources. It's not a new idea. President Clinton gave the effort great prominence, putting Vice President Al Gore in charge of his administration's "reinventing government" campaign. Of course, in the business world such reorganizations are de rigueur, occurring frequently to meet changing market conditions.

Unfortunately, government unlike business is under no urgency to react to changing consumer preferences and technologies.

In the more than 50 years since the constitutional establishment of our modern state government, little has changed in its organization. Where there were 13 state government departments in 1948, there are now 15. Names have changed (the original Department of Defense is now the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs) and some agencies have vanished only to be revived (the Department of the Public Advocate was abolished in 1994 and is slated for restoration in 2002). A top to bottom review of government operations with an eye to efficiency savings is long overdue.

Don't expect this property tax convention to propose a cut in government spending to free up more money for property-tax relief. As I mentioned before, the convention is expressly prohibited from reviewing spending, either at the state or local government level.

But our state legislators can cut spending on their own, if they have the political will. They should "just do it."

is First Vice President of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, an affiliate of the New Jersey Policy Research Organization (NJPRO) Foundation and is also a member of the NJPRO Board of Trustees.