Gov. Christie and the Tea-Parties

With New Jersey being one of the many states in the Union having severe financial difficulty, Governor Christie recently submitted an austere budget with major cuts to many state programs. Christie followed this up with a veto of new legislation raising the state income tax from 8.97% to 10.75% on persons earning over a million dollars per year. The governor took the position that New Jersey’s economic problems must be solved by spending cuts rather than tax increases, which would only drive more people out of the state. The Christie veto was followed by a huge public rally in Trenton, the state capitol, where 35,000 people gathered to object to the governor’s spending cuts and tax veto. Christie, to his credit, is reported to have said that protesters have a right to speak their minds.

Gov. Christie is correct in saying that opponents of the tax cuts have a right to rally to oppose those cuts. However, for the past several months, the nation has seen the “tea-parties” hold numerous rallies supporting tax cuts and lower spending. The tea party rallies have had some success in pushing the electorate, as well as our elected officials, to the right. With the proposed budget cuts in New Jersey, California and other states, are we now going to see a series of anti-tax cut, pro-government spending rallies? If so, will these rallies have the effect of pushing our state legislatures into the direction of raising taxes to continue government programs?

The tea-partiers have for the most part presented a rather simplistic solution to our nation’s economic problems: lower spending and lower taxes. Will protests such as the Trenton rally cause the tea-partiers to consider the consequences of lower taxes? Although that’s unlikely, it is likely that the tax cut advocates in our legislatures will now become more sensitive to the possible impact on their chances for reelection in the future. If more anti-spending cut rallies occur, will we, in effect, have something akin to the old-fashioned “town hall” style of government where the public presents its views directly to their elected officials? Dueling protest meetings may seem like a strange, chaotic approach to governing, but if results in the legislature determining the proper balance between spending cuts and taxes increases, it may be a good thing.