August 30
...serving up your daily dish.
News out last week that New Jersey is the richest state in the union. In the Star-Ledger story, the state's master demographer, James Hughes, was quoted as saying, "If New Jersey seceded from the U.S. and became a separate nation, we would be the wealthiest nation on Earth, just ahead of Luxembourg."
New census data puts New Jersey's median income at $55,221. According to Property Tax NJ, the average property tax bill in the state is $5,200.
And property taxes aren't the half of it. After car insurance, high school activity fees, EZ-pass charges, the weekly sushi bill and the cost of having illegal aliens blow away errant leaves, what does the average (or median) New Jerseyean have left? The price of a one-day beach pass to Asbury Park -- as long as you go in November.
August 30, 2004 in Barista Does the Math | Permalink
"what does the average (or median) New Jerseyean have left? "
Clearly some of them have enough left over to spend their copious idle time grousing, bitching and gossiping about the major issues of the day like Teenage Lifeguards at the local pool, for example.
Present company NOT excluded!
Posted by: Right of Center | Aug 30, 2004 12:25:00 PM
"According to Property Tax NJ, the average property tax bill in the state is $5,200."
Sounds low to me, unless I am thinking strictly in terms of single-family suburbs. I wonder what it would be if every municipality in the state had an up-to-date assessment in place? Again, the 'burbs tend to have more recent ones than the cities.
Posted by: The Prop | Aug 31, 2004 9:44:56 AM
Keep in mind that our property tax bills are only part of the state - take one Essex County tax bill of 20,000, then add in a few Sussex and Warren County bills of less than 2,000, and you can easily come up with that 5,200 average. There's lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Posted by: Alison Meyer | Aug 31, 2004 11:57:19 AM
