Allendale - October 7
Allendale Day was rather interesting. It’s the first time in a while all three of us were within 100 feet of each other for any amount of time since the Bergen County Senior Picinic. The AMT and Hastert-gate seemed to be what people asked me about the most.
As I mentioned in my statement regarding Garrett’s mailer, our return on the tax dollar goes down every year he’s in office. Garrett’s inability to get reform of the Alternative Minimum Tax is a big reason. The AMT funds a massive percentage of the federal budget but it targets about five states disproportionately; New Jersey is one of them. I have some tax advisors working on the problem, attempting to find a way that we can eliminate the AMT without bankrupting the government.
After the plan is devised, then the challenge is knowing how to frame it. If we compare the professions paying the AMT in NJ (including teachers, nurses, and police officers) to the professions paying the AMT in other parts of the nation (Executives) we can start to make the case for reform. Working with both Republicans and Democrats of the other areas where the AMT is an issue is our best way to get this done. Garrett doesn’t know how to fix the AMT or sell reform, I do.
As far as Garrett having Hastert come to Bergen County to raise money for him, this definitely falls into the category of something I would not do. I thought Hastert should have resigned after the DeLay/Abramoff scandal, so the Foley scandal is one more reason he should go. I see both scandals as equally egregious violations of the public trust.