Property Tax Circuit Breakers

From Newsday:

Lawmakers mull limiting taxes based on income, property

Beleaguered New Jersey property tax payers could get a break under a plan being considered by lawmakers to limit property taxes to a percentage of their household income or by restricting how much property value is taxed.

In separate interviews, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. and Senate President Richard J. Codey said the idea _ already implemented in many states _ is being studied as lawmakers try to reform New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes.
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If implemented, the plan revealed Tuesday by legislative leaders _ called a “property tax circuit breaker” in other states _ could either limit property taxes to a percentage of household income or restrict the percentage of property value upon which property taxes are calculated.

The idea is called a circuit breaker because it shuts off property tax bills, much like a circuit breaker shuts off electrical current, when they’re about to overload a household.

Former Sen. Bill Schluter, a longtime property tax reform advocate from Pennington, said the idea is worth considering.

“This would be a way to sustain property tax reductions,” Schluter said.

But Schluter said the state would have to replace revenue lost by the tax breaks with options such as an expanded income or sales tax.