Get “The Wrap,” our take on the news of the week, in your inbox every Tuesday. Sign up at: https://capemaycountyherald.com/newsletter-subscription.
Feb. 17 to 23
The Taxing of New Jersey
New Jersey was once a state that relied almost totally on property taxes with some excise taxes scattered for a variety of products. Today New Jersey has a form of just about every tax that other states impose, but instead of selecting one or two of those as its principal source of revenue, the Garden State has them all.
How one compares states in terms of taxes can vary depending on various methods for comparison from actual amounts paid as a percentage of average income to tax percentages to highest marginal rates and others. It doesn’t matter what method one uses, however, when it comes to New Jersey’s rank among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
New Jersey is generally considered first in the nation in property taxes. All the other sources of taxation that were added to the New Jersey resident’s tax burden never seemed to change the top ranking in the country for property taxes.
Personal income tax brackets and surcharges complicate comparisons but various sources agree that New Jersey is high on any list. TurboTax puts New Jersey fourth in the country and the Tax Foundation third. The tax foundation study for 2025 shows the Garden State with the highest marginal personal income tax rate with the exception of New York and California. 42 states levy individual income taxes.
Sales tax can also be complicated if one factors in states that allow local sales tax rate. Looking at the state sales tax rate, the tax foundation ranks New Jersey 8th out of the 45 states that collect statewide sales taxes.
The taxing of New Jersey doesn’t end there. Estate and inheritance taxes are imposed in 19 states. In addition to the federal estate tax, 12 states impose additional estate taxes and six make use of inheritance taxes, with Maryland as the only state that imposes both. New Jersey has the top marginal inheritance tax rate in the country at 16%.
Lastly a quick look at the corporate tax rates shows New Jersey among the 44 states that levy such a tax. New Jersey is among only four states that levy top marginal corporate tax rates of 9% or better.
Space does not allow a comparison of the state’s many excise taxes from motor fuel to alcohol to tobacco and vapor products to cannabis to sports betting and others.
We have come a long way from a state that largely lived off property taxes. Yet reports say with all the forms of taxation now in place, Gov. Phil Murphy will present a budget this week that requires the use of surplus funds to cover spending deficits. Where does it all go?
Permits to Carry
New Jersey processed 4,282 applications for gun carry permits in January. It was the highest level on record. Just over two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states had a limited ability to deny such applications, requests for permits to carry are soaring.
In Bruen the court struck down a New York law that required those seeking a concealed carry permit to prove they had a legitimate need to carry a weapon. New York removed the justifiable need provision.
In New Jersey authorities saw over 60,000 applications in two and a half years after the Bruen decision. In the same period of time, prior to the decision, the state had handled roughly 1,500.
Compared with the over 5,000 applications from shore counties like Ocean and Monmouth, Cape May County’s 863 applications may seem small on first consideration. However, as a percentage of the resident census population, it is on par with other coastal counties.
Of 863 total applications received from county residents, 858 were approved and five denied. Only four of those applications were renewals with 859 representing new requests for concealed-carry permits. A dashboard showing the application flow from 2019 to January 2025 makes clear the increase that followed the court ruling.
Across the state the vast majority of those seeking permits are white non-Hispanic males between the ages of 40 and 60. The overall denial rate was one-half of 1% with the principal reasons being public health issues, criminal records, or a history of domestic violence.
Within Cape May County, Middle Township accounts for 27% of all applications, followed by Lower Township at 20% and Ocean City at 10%.
Spring Weather Forecasts
Meteorologists don’t wait for the astronomical spring that starts March 20. Instead they march through the year in three-month chunks with the meteorological spring starting on March 1. With that date fast approaching we are getting spring weather forecasts for regions of the country.
For New Jersey, the forecast is mixed with AccuWeather predicting that we not put away those winter coats just yet. The first two weeks of March may feel more like a continuation of winter in the Garden State, AccuWeather says. The forecast team reminds us that we are still under the influence of a La Nina, when cooler than normal ocean surface temperatures prevail in the Pacific. Spring will struggle to break through but by mid-March we should see a warming trend.
A tug of war between milder spring air and lingering pockets of cold air could even open the possibility of more snow, says AccuWeather. Spring may also be wetter than normal, we are told, which should at least help us defeat the still prevailing drought warning in the Garden State.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is also predicting a cooler-than-normal start to spring with above-average precipitation before a warming trend starts in mid-March. On the whole, NOAA predicts above-normal temperatures along the East Coast once the cold air exits. However, NOAA says the above average temperatures have a 50% likelihood which for many of us means who knows. The Climate Prediction Center says the chances for a warm spring are “leaning above average,” whatever that may mean.
The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting that warmer temperatures will come later than usual this year. It is even forecasting an unusually late winter storm, possibly as late as April.
Keep the winter coat handy just in case, know where the rain hat is, and prepare to enjoy the occasionally warm days.
Week in Review
*Plans to restore four municipally owned brownfields properties (photo above) in Woodbine and put them to better use – as well as back on the tax rolls – are advancing thanks to a $1 million federal grant.
*Fifteen of Cape May County’s 16 municipalities have accepted the state’s calculated number for their current and future affordable housing obligations.
*“People keep asking me what am I going to do next, and I don’t know yet,” says 30-year-old Kyle Timpson, a Dennisville native, who won season 23 of the TV reality show “Hell’s Kitchen,” hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council cannot seem to make up its mind about a proposed change in the structure of a citizen advisory committee on recreation: An ordinance that has now been tabled twice would strip the advisory group of its citizen chair and give the chairmanship to the council member who chairs the council’s standing committee on recreation and tourism.
*Wildwood Crest plans to withdraw from the Five Mile Dune project, citing concerns about shrinking beach width, lack of funding guarantees and potential financial burdens on taxpayers.
*More than 100 people gathered in front of the Cape May County Courthouse on Monday, Feb. 17, to protest actions of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk that they said are unconstitutional and in violation of America’s intended checks and balances.
*Dennis Township Mayor Zeth Matalucci has been excused from Township Committee meetings through June.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council is proposing to require site plan review for any projects that would remove commercial buildings in portions of the business district for redevelopment as residential properties.
*The Dennis Township Committee chose to take no action on whether to accept the state-calculated number for the township’s fourth-round affordable housing obligation, leaving it vulnerable to lawsuits from housing developers.
*Fifty units at Burleigh Mini Storage went up in flames between 8:45 and 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, in what Middle Township Fire Co. Chief John McCann said was one of the biggest fires he has seen in his 40 years of service.
*The Middle Township Committee has passed a resolution opposing the 17% increase in the electrical supply portion of customers’ bills that was approved by the state Board of Public Utilities earlier this month.
*Middle Township is awaiting the finalizing by the state of its town center designations, a move expected to advance plans for a long-stalled, 100-room Hampton Inn in Court House.
*Two sore points in Stone Harbor — lack of a new contract for police and looming municipal budget problems — prompted a police representative and several residents to speak out at the Feb. 18 meeting of the Borough Council.
Spout Off of the Week
Villas – Remember when we had arcades here in town?? Like pinball, air hockey, pac man, donkey Kong, music boxes you put a quarter in to listen to 45 records play. How about the dances at St. Raymond’s Church? How about hanging down the ferry with our friends? Or back at the pits going mud bogging down by the canal? If you know, you know…How about we start remembering good things about our past instead of all the politics for once? How bout that?
