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  • Optional County 'Stamp Tax' for Homeless Groups Will Help Left-Wing 'Community Organizers' --Not Veterans.

Optional County 'Stamp Tax' for Homeless Groups Will Help Left-Wing 'Community Organizers' --Not Veterans.

Two weeks ago, seven of Atlantic County’s nine freeholders proposed a new ordinance (local law) to impose a “stamp tax” of $3 for every document filed with the county clerk—on top of already expensive filing fees and transfer taxes. Only Republicans Joe McDevitt and Rich Dase voted “no”.

This proposed new tax would pay for a new “Atlantic County Homelessness Trust Fund” that would duplicate many existing programs for the homeless (like Section 8 and “societal benefits fees” added to our gas, electric, and phone bills) and give grants to highly political “community organizers” who organize voting blocks that demand more borrowing and taxes to fund them and their agendas.

None of this was reported in our daily newspaper. But Freeholder McDevitt e-mailed dozens of “Tea Party” conservatives around the county who then fired up the Don Williams talk radio program on 1400 AM in the morning, and my program in the afternoon. Whether this vocal opposition was enough to stop the new tax was decided when the freeholders took their second and final vote last Tuesday—after this column went to press.

This proposed county “stamp tax” for “homelessness” is a classic example of how federal, state, and local government got so big, expensive, and corrupt during the past 50 years.

Republican County Executive Dennis Levinson’s attorney drafted the ordinance as a courtesy to the freeholders—something Levinson now regrets. Most freeholders supported the measure out of respect for their Veterans Advisory Board.
But it was the “community organizers” of the “NJ Advocacy Network to End Homelessness” (NJANEH) who heavily lobbied for the tax.

According to their njaneh.org website, NJANEH is highly political and has a far-left agenda. In September of 2008, it was active in the same “National Homeless and Low Income Voter Registration Week” that helped elect Barak Obama—and made ACORN, a national network of “community organizers”, famous for widespread vote fraud.

NJANEH holds its annual meetings at the State Capitol building in Trenton. It sponsors “Lobby Day” and “Congressional Receptions” to demand (and get) more and more tax money for its programs, including big Section 8 housing grants. It also gave “Report Cards” rating liberal Democratic Senators Lautenberg and Menendez and Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Congressmen Andrews, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, and Sires as “Very Supportive”. Conservative Republican Scott Garrett was rated “F” a for being “Unsupportive”).

A top priority for NJANEH was lobbying the freeholders of every county to impose a new $3 “Stamp Tax for the Homeless” on every public document filed with the county clerk.

In September of 2009, NJANEH was busy getting the poor and homeless registered to vote. This was a big help to Democrat Governor Corzine’s re-election campaign against Republican Chris Christie. That same month, Governor Corzine pushed through the new state law that allowed the freeholders of each county to impose the new “Stamp Tax for the Homeless”.

Corzine lost, but his law stayed on the books. NJANEH has since intensely lobbied the freeholders of each county to adopt the new tax.

To win support, NJANEH told veteran’s groups in Atlantic County that the new tax would help veterans. However, word “veteran” does not appear anywhere in the state or county legislation. And the state law does not allow the new tax to give any preference to veterans.

There are already many programs to help homeless veterans. The people who run those programs tell me that most homeless veterans need help with psychological and addiction problems—not just help with the rent.

Last year, Atlantic County freeholders considered this tax—and wisely rejected it. But two weeks ago, seven of the nine freeholders suddenly decided to adopt it on first reading.

If approved, the new tax would collect roughly $250,000 each year. Five percent of that money would pay “administrative costs” of the county. The rest would be dished out as grants to organizations like NJANEH.

A big chunk of that money would pay the salaries of their “community organizers” who would probably spend more time indoctrinating the homeless and dragging them to the polls than keeping them in homes.

What if the new tax somehow collected more money than was needed? A special section of the state law requires all of the new tax money to be spent within four years. By law, any money not spent must go “to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs which will be required to contract with a community-based organization located within Atlantic County”. (Like NJANEH!)