Chris Daggett says he's not going to raise sales taxes, he's going to expand them.
Huh?
He also says he will only expand sales taxes on household services that only the rich use, like lawyers fees and architect fees, and that by doing so he will raise $4 billion for property tax relief. Yeah right. Just like Corzine raised the sales tax 17% for property tax relief. Raise your hand if you got your property tax rebate. That's a lot less hands than last year.
In order to raise $4 billion, Daggett would have to tax $57 billion in household lawyers fees and architect fees. He says he's excluding business to business fees. There's no way "the rich" are incurring such fees, and the business exclusion makes avoiding those fees simple....form a business...the rich people's accountants and lawyers already figured that out.
Daggett doesn't want you to know this, but his sales tax expansion will hit the poor and the middle class hardest, his Corzinesque rhetoric to the contrary.
Daggett's plan comes from Michael Mazerov of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Mazerov's Expanding Sales Taxation of Services: Options and Issues was published in July. In addition to lawyers fees, Daggett will tax the following, given the chance:
Lawn and garden-related services
Landscape architect services
Pet-related services
Veterinary services (doctors, hospitals)
Pet sitting/walking services
Pet training (including classes)
Horse training
Personal transportation and related services and rentals
Bus/train/limo/subway tickets and fares (local, inter-, and intra-state)
Airline tickets (for info. only; sales taxation barred by federal law)
Taxi fares
Personal chauffer services (separate from vehicle rental)
Personal pilot services (separate from plane rental)
Storage and moving services
Plane storage (not hangar rental)
Marina services – docking (not slip rental)
Household goods moving services
Vehicle transport services (including drive-away)
Messenger/courier services (personal use)
Private shipping/mailing charges (e.g., FedEx, UPS)
House/mobile home moving services
Financial and insurance services
Service charges of banking institutions (miscellaneous)
Bill paying services (fee and commission)
Investment counseling/financial planning/portfolio management
Mutual fund management fees
Credit and debit card fees (including annual membership and usage fees)
Stock brokerage fees/commissions
Insurance services (life, real property, auto, etc.)
Imputed brokerage service value of loans and deposits in depository institutions
Fees/commissions for check cashing, money orders, traveler’s checks, money wiring
Personal care services
Barber shops
Hair care
Hair removal
Nail care
Weight loss salons and counseling
Miscellaneous personal services
Dating services
Personals advertising
Miscellaneous advertising for personal purposes (e.g., items for sale, positions wanted)
Household errand/ “personal shopper”/gift consulting/management consulting services
Child day care services
Adult day care services
Baby-sitting services (casual)
Home cleaning and maintenance services
Certain residential heating system maintenance and repair is exempt
Radon and other home environmental testing services
Condominium/co-op maintenance fees
Water softening/conditioning services – Testing & design currently is exempt/equipping and maintenance is taxed------
Interior decorating and design services
Home security system consulting (equipping and maintenance is taxable)
Closet/storage design consulting services --
Clothing-related services
Diaper service
Laundry and dry cleaning and pressing services, coin-operated (of clothing – exempt)
Laundry and dry cleaning and pressing services non-coin-operated (of clothing - exempt),
Shoe repair
Shoe shining and dyeing
Alterations, repairs, dyeing, and imprinting of clothing and accessories (post-purchase imprinting is taxable)
Original tailoring of clothing
Tuxedo rental
Miscellaneous professional services
Accounting/tax preparation
Legal services (wills, estate planning, accident defense, etc.)
Notary services
Computer consulting/trouble-shooting/data restoration services
Personal property appraisal services
Art/antique collecting advisory and brokerage services
Career counseling and resume preparation services
Debt counseling services
Commercial art, graphic design, (e.g., resume and invitations)
Personal/professional coaching services
Admissions/amusements/recreation/travel-related services
Games not taxed
Admission charges/fees for participant sporting/game facilities
bowling admissions and fees
Coin-operated mechanical amusements (video games, pinball, karaoke, etc.)
Admissions to school and college sports events (including season tickets, skybox: rentals, etc.)
Symphony/opera admission
Tours and walks not taxable if separate from admission
Other gambling admission and miscellaneous charges
Recreational/scenic transportation
Memberships (dues, initiation fees, etc.) in book and music clubs
Misc. memberships (dues, initiation fees, etc.) in sororities, neighborhood associations, social clubs, AARP, etc.
Cable/satellite/Internet TV and radio (monthly, pay-per-view, installation, and misc. fees)
Ticket broker services
Fees for online gaming, entertain, and info. services and downloadable “digital goods”
Services of DJs, musical performers/bands, dancers, other performers for adults
Services of children’s performers (clowns, magicians, entertainers, puppeteers, storytellers, etc.)
Psychic/fortune teller/astrologer services
Wedding/party/event planning services
Services of private party waiters, bartender, etc.
Complimentary meals and hotel rooms at gambling casinos
Campground and RV park rental charges
Services of travel agents (fees and commissions)
Service of tour operators (fees and commissions)
Reservation services
Services of waiters compensated through tips
Personal property leases and rentals (other than vehicles)
Luggage cart rentals at public transit facilities
Tuxedo/clothing/uniform/costume rentals
Medical and related services (Plan excludes medical expenses but does not define what is a medical service)
Services of doctors and dentists
Home nursing services
Medical testing services
Psychologist/social work/counseling services
Optometrists
Nutritionists/dieticians
Occupational/physical/massage/speech therapy
Alternative medicine practitioners (e.g., acupuncture, chiropractors)
Hospital services
Nursing home services
Specialized facilities (substance abuse, hospice, dialysis, etc.)
Nursing home/elder care consultants
Rent/fees for assisted living facilities
Rental of medical equipment for home use
Vehicle repair and maintenance services
Towing and removal and disposal of wrecked vehicles
Residential construction/renovation/repair services
Capital improvements (repair and maintenance and non-capital installation is taxable
Architectural services
Consulting engineer services
Gross charges of a general contractor for labor or for total job --Capital improvements and labor charge
Skilled trades services (original construction) -- Capital improvements and labor
Basement waterproofing services
Site excavation and grading
Well drilling
Housing and real estate-related services
Real estate agent fees/commissions (buyers’ and sellers’ agents)
Real estate title search services
Real estate appraisal services
Real estate surveying services
Real estate inspection services
Real estate advertising
Escrow agent services
Apartment search and roommate matching services
Loan “points,” lock-in fees, other loan-origination fees
Residential rentals
Trailer park site rentals
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4 comments:
Tell me again, Art, how Christie is going to close an $8 billion deficit without raising taxes.
$2 billion Fed stimulus, $2 billion pension deferral (which I don't agree with, but he has to clean up the mess Corzine is leaving) freezing municipal and school aid, spending cuts.
In other words, one-shot gimmicks and/or other financially irresponsible moves that will only increase local property taxes. No thank you.
There is so much waste in this state. And, Jon Corzine is a big part of the problem, not the solution.
Let's look at the Abbott schools. The budget for Newark schools could easily be cut from $695 million to $400 million.
And how could Chris Christie do this: If you give parents the choice and the means, many will take their children from Newark public schools with costs of close to 20K per student and place them in private schools with costs that are 50% to 60% of that.
How bad are Newark schools run?
The administrative cost on the 2007-2008 school report card for Newark was $1,567 per pupil. This was more than 15% higher than the state average. And, because Newark is a larger system, it should have certain economies of scale that would enable it to have a lower than average cost. But it doesn't.
Newark's costs for support services (attendance and social work, health services, guidance office, child study team, library and other educational media) were more than $4,000 per pupil, about twice the state average. How can this legitimately occur?
Newark's costs of $2,600 per student for buildings and maintenance are more than $1,000 higher than the state average.
Furthermore, Newark's school pupil figures appear inflated. Some high schools have an 83% average attendance record. A reasonable attendance record would be around 92%-94%. This means average absences in the system are about 30 per student each year.
My guess is that 8% to 10% of the students should be taken off the rolls but are kept on to keep the state subsidies flowing.
And, they could also reduce their inflated instructional costs.
My guess is that we could cut Abbott funding by $2 billion. And, we could also improve education if we go with Christie's plan.
The average SAT score on all three portions of the test is less than 375 in several of Newark's high schools.
To answer Jon Corzine, yes we should take money away from Newark and other public schools which are not only badly managed but also produce very poor results.
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