Pundits: McGreevey can sell tax message, but not necessarily himself

[newyawker99]

In his address to a joint session of the legislature this afternoon, Gov. James E. McGreevey announced plans to reverse a campaign promise and raise the state's income tax.

But he took pains to stress that the revenue generated from the hike on upper-income residents would be devoted to increasing property tax rebate checks for homeowners across the state, and he also called for a constitutional convention after the 2005 election that would address New Jersey's over-reliance on property taxes.

The move could be risky: Toying with broad-based taxes has been a political no-no in the Garden State ever since voters threw Gov. James J. Florio out of office in a tax revolt eleven years ago, and in breaking his pledge, McGreevey is also giving Republicans more ammunition to attack him as untrustworthy.

But two political analysts, Ingrid W. Reed, the director of the New Jersey Project at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute, and David P. Rebovich, the director of Rider University's Institute for New Jersey Politics, say they believe McGreevey is probably immune from another tax revolt, even if his plan doesn't ultimately improve his flagging approval ratings.

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