Christine Clarke
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QUESTION 3: How will you get Trenton to fully implement the school funding formula?
We should be elated that New Jersey continuously ranks in the top five public education systems in the country, and should particularly celebrate this year after being named the top school system in the country! However, there is always room for improvement, and as families like mine know well, we need to improve as a state at paying our bills and obligations, whether we’re talking about payments to our pension system or investments in our schools, or funding where necessary to assist school programs under threat due to funding formula changes.
In order to fully fund the school funding formula, we need to generate sustainable income and grow the revenue base for the state, without squeezing working families or relying on property taxes. Too many of our recent federal policies, and state policies enacted under the previous administration such as repealing the estate tax, reappropriate working families’ tax dollars to those who don’t need tax breaks. Many of us are feeling the pain of the SALT deduction loss, meanwhile the estate tax exemption costs our state hundreds of millions of dollars each year that have to be made up somewhere too. It’s time to tip the scales toward fairness again to make sure that we the people, our families and our children have improved opportunities to lead long, healthy, successful lives with promising careers.
As an example, moving assertively forward in leading on renewable energy policy would put New Jersey in a competitive position in a booming market, attracting over 100,000 jobs if we move to solar, wind and biofuels. Hiring has already started and some of the world’s largest wind developers are paying attention to our state. We who advocate clean energy are fighting to create careers, not temporary work, given a 40-year scale was used to measure job creation potential in these estimates. By embracing the growth of solar and onshore/offshore wind, which are the two biggest job creators nationally already, we’re talking about becoming a destination state for families looking to settle in areas with thriving economic potential and clean air, clean water and good schools and healthcare policies for children. We could grow the tax base, see millions in new revenue as these crucial infrastructure projects advance, reduce our energy burden with smart investments in energy efficiency, cut pollution and have cleaner air and water as byproducts. We would also have more money to invest in priorities like our schools, our pension, our natural resources and parks, transportation and infrastructure.
There have been some other great revenue-generating proposals floated in recent years that also need the political will to be successful, given they have the popular support of voters already. The two-cent tax on earned income in a given reporting year exceeding $1 million, meaning the first dollar over $1 million in a given reporting year would be the first dollar taxed, would generate $585 million for the state while impacting only 19,000 residents. The idea to create a state bank, so that we are paying ourselves rather than paying Wall Street so to speak, is another fantastic proposal that would generate revenue without squeezing working families or raising property taxes. Expanding access to drivers’ licenses could raise $80 million in revenue for New Jersey without raising our property taxes. Ending corporate subsidies for those falsely filing incentives to get sweetheart deals at our collective expense would save revenue for our state, as would taxing large employers with over 50 employees who fail to provide adequate healthcare coverage for their employees and instead make employees rely on taxpayers’ money for Medicaid. All of this could happen without raising families’ property taxes, and help us make crucial investments.
If 62% of the American economy is consumables, then making sure we tip the scales back toward working families makes excellent sense from a long-term economic perspective.
Let’s elect people who don’t look to squeeze the poor to fund the rich. Let’s move away from policies that give huge tax breaks to groups storing the money in offshore accounts rather than reinvesting it in our economy, our students and our communities. Let’s make sure that our budgetary solutions aren’t taking earned benefits away from people who shape our next generations, and instead find funding through sustainable revenue policies to fulfill our promises. Let’s keep the best schools in the nation, move to renewable energy in a just and fair transition that’s mindful of workers and inclusive of as many great ideas as possible, pay our bills and focus our policy perspective on the people in New Jersey, including our students.
