The front-runner for the Republican nomination in the governor's race in New Jersey is proposing a property tax relief plan.
Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno wants to provide a credit of up to $3,000 for homeowners who pay more than 5 percent of their household income toward the school portion of their property tax.
“What I’m hoping it does is help the families who need it the most. The working families who can barely make ends meet who live paycheck to paycheck, or those senior citizens who aren’t getting enough relief from their property tax bills and are thinking about moving out of state, or the millennials who are living in their parents’ basement because they can’t afford a house of their own.”
School districts would be compensated by the state, costing about one-and-a-half billion dollars a year, but Guadagno says there are ways to pay for it.
"We're going to audit Trenton which means we think a savings of approximately $250 million. We'll put that into property tax relief. The adjustment aid from the school funding we would put in. It’s about half a billion dollars. We could use revenue growth we estimate to be about a billion dollars."
Only a primary residence would be eligible for the credit.
"Not only can it be done. It would be the first thing I did as Governor. Because the number one problem I have heard over the past eight years talking to business here and growing the economy here is I can't keep my employees here any longer, it's just not sustainable."