Published on : Wed, 12 Oct 2005 17:44GMT
by : Sadat Sayeed

TRENTON, N.J - School leaders in New Jersey are urging the public to put some pressure on lawmakers to alter New Jersey's property tax system and introduce new legislation for the same.

The New Jersey School Boards Association met on Tuesday and has called on the legislature to find some way to balance the funding for public schools. The association recommended that the existing system where 60 percent of the property tax fell under the local purview and only 40 percent under the state's purview was unfair. It wants the state's share to be increased to 50 percent.

Frank Belluscio, the spokesman for the group said that they were calling for a sharing of the taxes rather than increasing them. The NJSBA says that if the state income tax is increased, some proceeds must be given to local municipalities so that they can devote these funds exclusively to lower school property taxes. A 1999 study had said that such a measure would help 90 percent of the taxpayers and would cost somewhere in the tune of $1 billion. "Would some people pay more? Yes. But some people would pay less," Belluscio pointed out.

New Jersey leads in the country's annual property tax state. It rakes in $14 billion each year and half of this typically falls to schools. The rest is evenly distributed among county and municipal government services. Property taxes hit the pockets hard in this state with an average citizen shelling out $5,500 a year. Analysts say that this high rate is forcing people to sell their homes and migrate to other states and is causing distress to young families. Eva Nagy, president of the Franklin Township Board of Education in Somerset County, said that people had approved only six school budgets in the year as they were no longer able to afford the taxes.