T@x Foundation LOVES Jersey!

I had a goofy battle with the T@x Foundation a while ago. They are partisans and they appear to LOVE them some Christie.

So I'm approaching this with skepticism; however, it does confirm common sense:

WASHINGTON — New Jersey‘s taxpayers get shortchanged when it comes to federal money and that’s unlikely to improve. It has a governor who — at times, at least — says he doesn’t like the "addiction" to federal money. And a congressional delegation split between those who say the governor hampers their efforts to obtain more and others who say federal aid has to be cut back, even for their home state.

The Tax Foundation reports New Jersey is last of 50 states in getting back federal tax money its people pay — 61 cents on the dollar — and those numbers were crunched before the new GOP House leadership vowed to do away with earmarks, a favorite way of funding many state projects.

The numbers — sending out $86 billion while raking in only $58 billion — also don’t include the recent loss of $400 million in federal Race to the Top school funds or shutting down a cross-Hudson tunnel project that would have brought in $3 billion. Events that led some Congressmen to question what the governor is thinking.

I couldn't find anything from the T@x Foundation later than 2005 for this, which appears to be what Braun is using. I'm sure the fine folks at TTF will get right on to massaging those numbers for their boy, although I'm not sure which way he would want them...

Interesting to look at TTF's rankings, though, and compare them to who has underfunded pension problems. Looks to be a bit of a correlation.

Could it be that we here in NJ - and those in CA, IL, and MA - have to spend more on infrastructure and services because we don't get these things from the feds? And that means less available money to fund pensions?

If so, I'd say that's a good case for the feds to bail us out.