Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 15:17:50 EST
From: Robert Sterling <RSTERLI@auvm.american.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.politics.libertarian
Subject: Re: For your "amusement" (except it's not funny)

In message <Bz446M.ALw@wrs.com>Richard Steuven writes:

>Reprinted from the 12/10 Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger with neither
>permission nor comment (for now)...

>                    TAKING LICENSE ON LOST LEVIES
>
>New York (AP) - It's another War Between the States, with a twist:
>Freewheeling tax agents scribbling New York license plate numbers at
>shopping malls in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
>
>New York's Department of Taxation and Finance said yesterday that 300
>letters will be mailed this week - almost 2,000 by the end of the month
>- as a result of a sales-tax reconnaissance in New Jersey last
>weekend.
>
>"A vehicle registered to you was recently observed parked at a State of
>New Jersey shopping location", says the form letter. "If you have
>incurred a use-tax liability, please return the enclosed ST-130 from."
>
>On Tuesday, the department mailed letters to 600 upstate New Yorkers
>whose cars were spotted at malls in Erie and Warren, Pa., said
>spokesman Paul Rickard.

>For now, compliance is voluntary - although customers should be aware
>that names and addresses occasionally emerge during store audits.
>
>"Our purpose is to make people aware of the fact that they have a
>responsibility," Rickard said. "We're not out there to torment people
>who are doing their Christmas shopping or driving an aunt who lives in
>New Jersey to the mall."

I'm from New Jersey, and I've watched for years as the state government has
slowly implemented schemes to bring peeple back to the cities.  For those of
you outside the area, the State of New Jersey has lowered the sales tax in
selected urban zones.  As a result, people who would not ordinarily shop in
zones like Paterson, Camden, Newark, etc., venture into these urban nightmares.

For about 15 years, the State Government in Trenton has been attempting to
prevent "white-flight" from the cities using various schemes.  Primarily, they
have used environmental laws, restricting coastal development, and development
of the NJ Pine Barrens, as well as development of the northwestern part of the
state.  Governor Byrne, about 15 years ago, also cancelled a slew of new high-
way projects that would have allowed easy commuting to Philadelphia from
areas in Ocean County and Cape May County, areas that currently do not have
easy access, as well as highways in the northwest portion of the state.  The
announced intention of these actions was to limit development in "ecologically
sensitive areas", but if you look at a map of New Jersey, with the areas that
have suffered 'anti-development' action by the state, you'll find that the
areas most affected were the likely sites of future suburbs. And Atlantic
City, home to precious 'wetlands' and 'pinelands' is strangely not targeted
by nearly so many environmental regulations as its surrounding 'burbs.

Which brings us to the point: after destroying the cities with their moronic
policies, the government of New Jersey tried to keep people from leaving, by
making it harder for them to find a place to go within the state.

While the New York and Philadelphia media have labeled these moves as attempts
to draw shoppers in from out-of-state, this argument is clearly flawed.
Paramus and other suburban 'mall-towns' within easy access of NY and Philly
have not had their tax rates lowered.  The State government is trying to lure
shoppers away from the suburbs.  It is trying to make it easier to live, work,
and shop in the cities, RELATIVE to the suburbs.  It is still an unmitigated
bitch to live in New Jersey's urban cesspools.

Urban politicians don't want their constituencies to leave.  They're like
sheep herders fencing in their herds, so they can fleece them without having
to go looking.
Newsgroups: alt.politics.libertarian