A man walks into a bar...

I live in Clinton Township. Out here in Clinton we are assessed at 100% of full market value. This assessment occurs every year. Well, this year my assessed value went up 17%. Is that insane? Absolutely! I moved to town in 2000 and since then the amount of cash that I actually pay in property taxes has risen over 36%. That 36% translates to the equivalent to 20% of the increase of equity in my home. The local government has confiscated 20% of my investment and the State and the Feds will confiscate another 18% when I sell. My town provides no sewars, no garbage collection, no water, no fire department. Anyway...

Last week the new yearly property assessment came in the mail and on Saturday night, while sitting at the bar of a local establishment to eat and have some adult conversation the conversation touched on the insane property taxes that we in Hunterdon county pay. It's a nice quite place and is frequented by middle age people with some kids in the local schools and some kids in college. Most seem to be property owners. To a couple, there was not one there that was not plotting their exit from New Jersey. I was amazed at how many of us were calculating kids ages, work situations, personal situations and were actively researching new locations to live. Many were researching out of country retirements in Central and South America. It may be antidotal evidence, but that great sucking sound your hearing isn't NAFTA, like Ross Perot told us, it is disgust with the tax situation in America.