Thursday, May 21, 2009

Property tax rebates: ending soon?

Most New Jersey homeowners, already paying the highest property taxes in the nation, will not see a property tax rebate check next year under Gov. Jon Corzine's revised 2010 budget proposal. The updated budget, released Tuesday by Treasurer David Rousseau, keeps rebates for 700,000 seniors and the disabled but eliminates them for everyone else.

Corzine's original proposal, released in March, got rid of rebates for those earning more than $75,000. But with updated revenue projections coming up $2 billion short for the 2010 budget year, Rousseau said rebates were not sustainable this year.

"We simply cannot spend money that we don't have," Rousseau told the Assembly Budget Committee members Tuesday. The move would save the state nearly a billion dollars and cost homeowners $950 on average; renters would miss out on an average $75 rebate, according to the Treasury Department.

At least 1 million homeowners would no longer get rebates; the number of renters affected is unclear, according to Treasury Department spokesman Tom Vincz.

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