Assemblyman Greenwald: Monmouth Poll Highlights Importance Of Taxpayer-Friendly State Budget

GREENWALD: MONMOUTH POLL HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE
OF TAXPAYER-FRIENDLY STATE BUDGET

(TRENTON) - Results of a new Monmouth University Polling Institute survey showing nearly 60 percent of respondents reporting that their incomes do not keep pace with the cost of living underscores the importance of the new state budget that avoids tax increases and will provide record levels of property tax relief, Assemblyman Louis Greenwald said today.

"The state budget was crafted with the plight of New Jersey's working families clearly in mind," said Greenwald (D-Camden), chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee.  "With no tax increases, record levels of property tax relief, and a tax cut for lower-income working families, this budget will do more to make New Jersey more affordable than any other in recent memory."

According to the Monmouth survey, 59 percent of respondents said their family income was rising slower than the cost of living. When broken down into income levels, nearly two-thirds of households earning below $50,000 annually and 64 percent of families with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 reported  their incomes as unable to keep pace with cost of living increases.

Greenwald noted that the state budget will deliver real relief to working families by fully funding 20 percent property tax cuts for households earning up to $100,000 annually, doubling the amount of money available for tenant rebates, and extending benefits of the state's Earned Income Tax Credit to roughly 300,000 lower-income families - an income tax cut that would average more than $500.

"State government has a responsibility to enact fiscal policies that will give a boost to  families that are finding it harder to make ends meet," said Greenwald. "This budget ensures that New Jersey's working families will have a helping hand to make ends meet."

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