News
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
It was Niccolo Machiavelli that wrote in "The Prince," that in order to do good you had to do evil. In the United States, and in the rest of the world, there have been politicians, dictators, judges, special interest group leaders and more, that have followed this teaching. They have justified wrong conduct in order to do, at least in their minds, "good works." For example, there have been many liberal and "moderate" politicians that have defended the growth and spending of government in order to "help the people." What they do not say, is that they are ignoring the Constitution and other laws with regards to limits on power. In order to justify this all, they say that the limits on power is "antiquated," "does not apply to today's society" or "belongs in the horse and buggy days." Franklin D. Roosevelt should be smiling on these folks.
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- Written by: Don Boudreaux
- Category: Letters to Editor
Here's a letter that I sent last night to U.S. News & World Report:
You report that President Obama today "challenged" his cabinet to "cut the budget by $100 million" ("Obama to Cabinet: Cut $100 Million from Budget," April 20). What courage. A President who proclaims the importance of making "hard choices" calls upon his government to trim away a whopping one thirty-six-thousandth of its projected expenditures for the year - or, alternatively reckoned, one twelve-thousandth of its projected budget deficit.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
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| The Unknown Taxpayer made an appearance at the tea party on the Morristown Green. He was there representing the thousands of New Jerseyans who were afraid to show their faces in opposition to the IRS for fear of audits or harassment. |
Yesterday, members of the NJ Libertarian Party attended Tea Party Rallies across the state. The citizens of this state and the NJLP are outraged over the enormous growth of government at both the state and federal levels. The Bush-Obama bailouts are just the straw that has broken the camel's back.
The NJ Libertarian Party has held tax day demonstrations across the state every year since 1972. We are happy to see a revival of the same libertarian principles that our founders espoused and look forward to the day that government intrusions into our bedrooms, our relationship, and our wallets are rolled back by our elected leaders.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Press Releases
Study from Nation's Largest Taxpayer Group Shows Individuals, Corps., Spending Nearly $300 Billion on Tax Compliance
(Alexandria, Va.) -- Complying with the nation's Tax Code now costs American families and businesses more time, money, and frustration than ever, according to the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union's (NTU) 11th annual study of tax complexity trends. Taxpayers using any of the 1040 tax form series will spend an average of 26.4 hours and $209 completing their returns for the most current tax year, up from 25.4 hours and $185 four years ago.
"Just in time for the Tax Day 'Tea Party' revolts being held around the country tomorrow is the unsurprising news that taxpayers are bedeviled by increasingly complex federal income tax regulations," NTU Senior Counselor and study author David Keating said. "If our study tells us anything, it's that Americans are ready to toss the U.S. Tax Code overboard and start anew with a simpler and more transparent version."
NTU has conducted comprehensive examinations of Tax Code complexity since 1999, providing historical trends of the burden on Americans to comply with IRS demands. Among 2009's findings:
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
There is nothing more intense and passionate than when men and women debate political, social, judicial, religious, philosophical and economic issues. Debates have a tenacity to raise voices, evoke feelings and raise the blood levels up a notch. They are also morally stimulating and, at least to me, morally fulfilling (what can I say, I like to joust).
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
Over a period of years, I have witnessed the deterioration of the public discourse with regard to politics, social and economic issues and religion and so on. I have witnessed this with churches being attacked, because they oppose abortion or gay marriage; I have witnessed this in the colleges and universities, where invited speakers have been assaulted, heckled, spat upon, bum rushed and shouted down; I have seen this with the mainstream press, where if someone strays away from an individual, collective, editorial position, or even an ideological position, that person is tarred, feathered and personally attacked along with his or her family; and I have even seen this when a private citizen has been attacked and investigated solely because he or she dares ask a question of a politician regarding his or her position or policy.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
There have been politicians that have ran for executive offices such as governor or president, that have promised that they were going to deliver great changes to the state and to the country. Often times, the moment that these politicians are sworn in, is the moment that reality hits them. They find that it is difficult to bring about changes and reforms because the legislative branch is controlled by the opposition party with its own agenda, and because some of the executive branch's own party members may not be on board. This situation can not only be seen in Washington, D.C. but also in the northeastern states, in California and elsewhere.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Insight New Jersey
This article is not yet complete.
The Law and Public Safety Division is currently run by Christopher Porrino, Attorney General for the State of NJ. This department was reported to have 7,780 employees in 2008. 914 (11.7%) of them made more than $100,000. The 2010 budget estimates spending at $566 million in 2009 and $546 million in 2010. Their mission statement is described as:
The mission of the Department of Law and Public Safety is to protect the safety, security, and quality of life of the people of New Jersey through an integrated and coordinated structure of law enforcement and regulatory agencies. The Department represents the public’s rights and interests in all legal matters. With ten divisions, as well as independent commissions and boards, the department has wide-ranging responsibilities critical to the people of New Jersey. The Attorney General, as head of the department, serves as the state’s chief law enforcement officer and legal advisor, and is responsible for the management and administration of the department. The Attorney General oversees the criminal justice system, protects the safety of the public, and defends the state against lawsuits. The Department regulates the casino, boxing, alcoholic beverage and racing industries. The Department also protects consumers against fraud. While these responsibilities are varied, the Department is singularly united in protecting the safety and security of all those who live, work, and visit New Jersey.
The Division is broken down into twelve categories.
NJ State Police
In 2008 the NJ State Police employed 4,485 employees. The State Police functions include general police service, general highway and traffic enforcement, investigative and intelligence services, emergency management, support for local law enforcement, maintenance of criminal records, and regulation of "certain" commerce.
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- Written by: Lawrence M. Vance
- Category: Selected Blogs
Our current income tax system, inaugurated in 1913 with the adoption of the 16th Amendment, began with a 1 percent tax on taxable income above $3,000 ($4,000 for married couples). A series of surcharges of up to 6 percent were applied to higher incomes, with the maximum rate being 7 percent on taxable income over $500,000. Less than 0.5 percent of the population ended up paying income tax.
From these humble beginnings, the income tax soon blossomed, thanks to World War I, into a tax with a minimum rate that doubled and a maximum rate that reached 77 percent on income of over $1 million.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
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The James Madison Center filed two federal lawsuits on Friday, April 3, 2009, to challenge the IRS definition of "political intervention," which has been used by the IRS to stifle the legitimate speech activities of many non-profit organizations.
For decades the IRS has applied an "all the facts and circumstances" test to the grass roots lobbying, issue advocacy and voter education activity of non-profits to determine if the non-profit has actually engaged in prohibited political activity. Furthermore, this vague IRS test has been exploited by some liberal groups to threaten and harass churches and other non-profits, causing many of them to be fearful of IRS retribution if they discussed moral or public policy issues. Non-profits have even shied away from legitimate grass roots lobbying activity in fear that it will be considered political intervention. As a result, the legitimate speech activities of many non-profits have been chilled and their free speech rights infringed.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
Over a period of time, I been hearing this phrase that there are "businesses that are too big to fail." Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey stated that of the automobile industry with regards to General Motors, Chrysler and Ford when he wrote me in response to an online letter that I sent him. Now it seems like that is the case with regard to every industry, particularly the newspapers.
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- Written by: Benjamin Martin
- Category: Latest News
Washington DC - Effective September 1, 2009 the federal government shall be transitioning to four digit acronyms for all of its agencies. The current use of three digits only allows for only 1,692 combinations (accounting for unusable acronyms due to current usage). Transitioning to four digits will allow for over four hundred thousand combinations.
This change is necessary because with the current growth rate the federal government is expected to run out of usable acronyms by the summer of 2010. Existing agencies will have an A added to the end (unless such use conflicts with an existing usage).
The Office of Federal Registry (OFRA) shall shortly be publishing a list of all updated acronyms.
Heard on Off the Hook.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Read the full article...The mother of the New Jersey girl whose death inspired Megan's Law is criticizing prosecutors who charge teenagers with child porn for distributing nude photos of themselves.
Maureen Kanka said Thursday that the prosecutors are harming the children more than helping them.
Her comments came as authorities in Passaic County charged a 14-year-old girl with child pornography for posting nude photos of herself on MySpace.com.
If she is convicted, she would have to register with the state as a sex offender under Megan's Law.
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- Written by: Sean Colon
- Category: Chair's Report
Hello Libertarians,
The NJ Libertarian Party Convention was a rousing success. It was wonderful to see other Libertarians who saw the future with as much optimism as I do. The speakers were fantastic, including Wayne Allyn Root, Jim Bennett, Howard Kupferman, and Walter Luers. I cannot imagine a better lineup than what we had at this convention. We have video of the speakers and when it has been posted online I will inform everyone. The elections also went well with the following results:
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Latest News
In an unpublished decision released today, the Appellate Division affirmed a trial court's dismissal of Doris Lin's First Amendment case against the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. The decision is on-line HERE.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
The NJLP's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project has recently succeeded in getting two Salem County municipalities--Pilesgrove Township and Woodstown Borough--to repeal their loitering ordinances.
Pilesgrove finalized the repeal of their ordinance on March 19th, Woodstown repealed their ordinance on March 24th.
For more information, see LP Of Central NJ Loitering Page
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
In a March 25, 2009 letter, the High Bridge (Hunterdon County) Board of Education agreed that its committees (e.g. Policy Committee, Personnel Committee, etc.) will now take minutes of their meetings. This change was made in response to a March 6, 2009 request from the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. The request and the response are available HERE.
Readers may wish to submit an OPRA request for the minutes of their local school boards' committee meetings. If they find that the committees do not take minutes of their meetings (i.e. if the OPRA request is answered "there are no responsive records") they may wish to send the correspondence at the above link to the board members and ask that they consider adopting the High Bridge Board's procedure.