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Date Posted: 09:29:28 02/12/03 Wed
Author: COPIED FROM THE JERSEY JOURNAL
Subject: From THE JERSEY JOURNAL


Sires speaks of tax hike, governor won't - yet



Thursday, January 16, 2003





Assembly Speaker Albio Sires, who is also the mayor of West New York, stands today as a minority of one.

But he could have unwelcome company by the end of June if the Democrats are budget desperate enough. On Dec. 27, Sires expressed support for a "soak-the-rich" income tax increase. One proposal - not necessarily Sires' - would raise $600 million over three years for municipal or school aid assistance. Sires is concerned about frozen municipal and school aid again - this time in a legislative election year.

Commented Sires: "That's something I would look at. We have to be open."

However, Gov. James E. McGreevey recently ruled out increases in the sales and state income taxes.

"I think we all know that the governor stated he is not in favor of an income tax increase. We appreciate the speaker's willingness to look at every option. But that is not a proposal we're considering. I want to make it clear it is not something that's on the table," said McGreevey spokesman Micah Rasmussen.

The McGreevey administration is still facing a grand canyon budget shortage - in June it was $6 billion - now it's down to $4 billion.

The prospect of an income tax increase in the upper brackets could be worked to the Democrats advantage - at least theoretically. Republican legislators opposing it could be charged with forcing property tax increases.

McGreevey will outline his next budget on Feb. 3.

But McGreevey and George Zoffinger, executive director of the state Sports and Exposition Authority, are looking at a back-door approach to new revenue from a different source.

The authority recently authorized a study on the effect video lottery terminals would have on the state's horse racing industry.

The video terminals would be located at Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, Monmouth Park, Atlantic City Racecourse and Freehold Raceway to increase the purses and counter competition from tracks in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

They also could have an impact on the budget.

"The issues are going to be what is necessary to save the horse racing industry," Zoffinger said, "what is the impact on Atlantic City, and what are the political and the social hurdles that would need to be overcome to reach such a conclusion?"

The Atlantic City casino industry bristled with hostility.

Sen. William Gormley, R-Atlantic, known as "Casino Bill," says video lottery terminals at the tracks would threaten future investment in Atlantic City, where billions of dollars are gambled legally every year in slot machines.

"We're not going to allow people to make light of the New Jersey Constitution," said Gormley.

He referred to private thinking in the McGreevey administration that an obscure 1982 attorney general's legal opinion makes a distinction between games of chance and games of skill.

According to the ruling, games of skill are those in which players exert some control over winning or losing only in Atlantic City. Voters approved casinos there in 1978.

A player at the slot machine pushes a button to determine the outcome of the game, and that is viewed as a game of skill under the 1982 opinion.

Video lottery terminals operate when a player puts money in the machine and its computer determines a series of numbers. That's called a game of chance.

What legalistic nonsense.

The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services said recently the video lottery question should be placed before the voters in a state referendum. Any gambling, or expansion of gambling, can be done only by voters' approval under the New Jersey Constitution.

Zoffinger and McGreevey are trying an end-run around the Constitution.

But Sires, the income-tax-increase advance man, is facing a formidable wall of opposition within and outside his Democratic Party, as talk of property tax increases continue to heat up. It could be a red-hot issue by the Nov. 4 election.

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