It’s Time for Trenton to “Pay as they go”

By Declan O’Scanlon, Assemblyman 12th District

In a time like this, when Wall Street is floundering, the housing market is plummeting and governments from the federal to the local level are scrambling to get their financial houses in order, we have some decisions to make: we can either continue doing business the way we’ve always done in New Jersey, or we can make much needed reforms and take responsibility for how each tax payer dollar is spent.

Over the past few months, New Jersey has been on the edge of, if not over, the financial precipice. Irrespective of the fact that our budget doesn’t have room for any spending increases, the Legislature continues to spend.

Is it just me, or isn’t this exactly the kind of thinking that brought about this financial calamity in the first place? Over the last five years, the State budget has grown by 50 percent and the State debt has more than doubled. We currently have a $32 billion State budget and a $47 billion State debt. Over the past seven years we have saddled our residents with 103 new taxes. How can we, as elected officials, justify that to the taxpayers?

Despite the economic mess we all find our selves in, despite the rising unemployment and bankruptcies, despite the increase in foreclosures and decrease of confidence in our financial systems, I believe that some good can come out of this situation. Now is the time we as Legislators should fundamentally change the way we spend your tax dollars.

That is why I am introducing a resolution that would inhibit members of the General Assembly and State Senate from increasing spending on a whim. The Legislature would have a “pay-as-you-go” system. PAYGO would prevent members of the Legislature from introducing and passing legislation that requires funding, yet leaving it in the hands of the Governor to determine how to pay for it.

Too often, on the floor of the General Assembly and State Senate, when Legislators are asked how a piece of legislation will be funded, there is no answer other than: “That is not the job of the Legislature.”

The people of New Jersey deserve a better answer. The people of New Jersey deserve better leadership. This resolution will give that to you, by requiring the question “How will we pay for this?” be answered before any legislation can be considered. It will serve to protect tax payers from spending for which no one will take responsibility. It’s time elected officials set a better example.

When legislation is introduced with spending, a direct and offsetting amount must be identified in the current budget to pay for the proposed project. In order to prevent further taxation on a citizenry that lives in one of the highest taxed States, in all categories, a supermajority of 2/3 of each body of the Legislature would be required in order to increase taxes or fees. This would serve to prevent the knee-jerk reaction in the State Legislature: to simply raise the taxes of New Jersey residents, which has become an all too common default to fund new or expanded programs.

This should not be a difficult concept for my fellow members of the Legislature to grasp. This is common sense fiscal planning. This is the way we, as individuals, make financial decisions by prioritizing in our daily lives and find the funding before taking action. It’s about time the Legislature started exercising some common sense and fiscal discipline as well.

If my fellow Legislators are interested in protecting the State’s economic vitality, and if they are interested in reducing the unsustainability that the present tax burden places on the hard-working families of New Jersey, they should sign on to this resolution.

Declan O’Scanlon is the Assemblyman for the 12th Legislative District (Monmouth/Mercer)