Thomas Kean Jr. on Tax Reform Republican challenger

No increase in top tax rate to reduce property taxes

Excerpts from veto message: I will not permit the State to succumb to the legislature's enduring addiction to profligate taxing and spending. I also have vetoed AB 3029, which would have increased the Earned Income Tax Credit to provide relief to only a subset of NJ's taxpayers. All of our taxpayers are already subject to one of the nation's highest state income tax rates. Instead, we should be lowering taxes for all New Jerseyans.

Legislative outcome:Kean voted NAY; passed House 47-31-2 & Senate 24-16-0; Vetoed by Governor

Repeal the unfair Death Tax & the Marriage Penalty Tax

KEAN: I believe NJ residents should not pay a single penny more in taxes until we have wholesale government reform. This means making the federal tax cuts permanent. I will fight to end the Marriage Penalty Tax for good, ensure that the Alternative Minimum Tax does not entrap the middle class and repeal the unfair Death Tax that penalizes hardworking people for the achievements of a lifetime.

MENENDEZ: Tom Kean Jr’s solution is to make permanent President Bush’s tax cuts to the wealthiest 1%-of which he is one. My opponent wants to eliminate the estate tax for the wealthiest one half of 1%-of which he is one, as well. I believe in fair and fiscally responsible tax cuts. I sponsored an amendment to protect middle-class families from the alternative minimum tax. I’ve supported tax cut packages that would have provided meaningful relief to families. If the cuts are made permanent, $2 trillion will be added to our debt over the next decade.

Make permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts