newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOSH McMAHON

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

The initial sniping in the annual budget warfare is just about done and you'd have to say the Democrats managed to hit their targets even though the Christie team donned a considerable amount of camouflage.

A couple of times the combatants ratcheted up their rhetoric but for the most part they remained respectful of each other.

That's not going to last.

It can't because each side has a different fiscal fix for the state.

Democrats are itching to reinstate a tax on those making $400,000 and spend that $900 million or so on making taxpayers feel better by masking some of the pain that the deep recession has caused.

Chris Christie, New Jersey's governor knows best, wants to pinch every penny and refuses to consider that tax on the uber wealthy.

In reality, I'm sure most of the Democrats realize Christie is doing what needs to be done but they take issue with the way he's going about it.

And besides opposing a governor who is intent on forcing everybody to face fiscal reality — even if it's not what he or she wants to do — makes good political sense. Despite the never-ending cries to cut government spending, nobody wants to experience the pain entailed in doing so.

As the budget hearings unfolded, Democrats repeatedly pointed out that Christie was not leveling with the public. He swears he won't raise taxes and vows to never sign a budget that contains them. In reality, his proposal will force millions to reach deeper into their pockets than they did last year to pay tax bills.

But numbers aren't the main focus in this budget battle; Christie's pickpocket budget balancing scam is.

It's likely to be the Democrats' recurring theme. They're going to run with the notion that Christie, despite all his pledges to not raise taxes, is actually doing just that. His belt tightening is pilfering money from wallets all over the state.

They got a very good point. So good that the usually sharp Christie team — treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff in particular — was left babbling about tax rebate checks being benefits and how eliminating benefits was not increasing taxes. Really?

The 500,000 senior citizens who got $1,200 rebate checks last year and will get nothing this year might have a different view.

So might the millions of homeowners who will pay higher property taxes because Christie cut school aid by $820 million.

And how about the working poor, those making $48,000 or less? They will lose some of their earned income tax credit. The state is still, as the Christie people like to point out, more generous than just about any other state with the tax credit. Still, those in that category will get less credit than they did last year. And so presumably pay more in taxes.

No amount of talk about the state's dire fiscal situation and the need for change — no matter how logical it might be — can erase the facts. And the facts are that millions will have a heftier tax liability this year than last.

In politics, it's always amazing to see what a difference a few months and an election can make.

Just last year when then Gov. Jon Corzine and the Democrats significantly reduced the rebates, the Republicans wrapped themselves in the populist mantle and charged into the public forum, denouncing the move as nothing more than a tax increase.

This year, Democrats have grabbed that populist mantle. The Republicans are silent.

Overall, I suspect the Democrats couldn't be happier. The Christie budget is a gift that never stops.

Turn to almost any page and you can find a program reduced or eliminated. Democrats like to point out the pain each of those causes and to point to Christie as the inflictor of pain.

As they detail each budget cut, the Democrats imply that it doesn't have to be this way. Money is available.

Problem is that pot of money isn't an endless one while the Democrats' list of what budget cuts need to be restored is.

Their sole weapon to counter Christie is that tax on those making more than $400,0000. But that will raise "only" $900 million.

Education spending was slashed $820 million alone. The rebate program, if fully funded, would cost something like $1.8 billion.

The Democrats are overpromising. Even if they got that tax on the wealthy, there's still going to be a lot of pain.

The simple fact is there isn't enough money to keep the state running the way it did last year.

But remember numbers aren't all that important in this budget battle; public perception is.

This is Christie's budget; he's the one responsible and Democrats want the taxpayers to remember that.

During the next two months, Christie and his financial team will do a lot of talking but they won't be able to escape reality: his budget causes taxpayers to pay more than they did last year.

He knows that.

He's banking on voters figuring the pain is worth it and that in three years that pain will be forgotten.

Josh McMahon was a member of The Star-Ledger's editorial board and had served as the paper's political editor.