Heres a quick look at the  comparivitive numbers, per NJBiz.com‘s Evelyn Lee.

“New Jersey residents paid 11.8 percent, the highest of any state. New Yorkers were close behind, paying 11.7 percent, and Connecticut was third at 11.1 percent. The states with the lowest state-local tax burden were Alaska, which paid 6.4 percent in 2008 and Nevada, which paid 6.6 percent.

The nation as a whole paid 9.7 percent of its income in state-local taxes, down from 9.9 percent in 2007, primarily because income grew faster than tax collections between 2007 and 2008, according to the report. ”

Sussex County, NJ

To many New Jersey isn’t much more than a Sopranos rerun or a drive along the Turnpike(I-95) on their way to somewhere else.  My good buddy Chris Wink does a nice job addressing one of the state’s often overlooked gems, rural Northwest N.J. Read it here at christopherwink.com.

Now that we officially know Brett Favre will be playing half his Sundays in East Rutherford, NJ for Gang Green, I have a proposal–ofiicially change the name N.Y. Jets to the “New Jersey Jets.” Here’s why.

1) Many people ouside the metropolitian area thinks both the Giants and Jets play in New York. I spent four years at the UMass arguing with wicked smart New Englanders about the zip code of the Giants and Jets. Its about pride at this point.

2) My taxes are paying for the building of the “New Meadowlands Stadium“ where the Giants and Jets will be playing for the next 99 years. No thats not an exaggeration, “99 years” is on the lease. And don’t give me any of that “well its creating jobs for New Jersey,” we all know that the demolition business is corrupt and all the money goes to Tony Soprano and his pisones. We also all know that any construction firm worth its salt is overun with illegal immigrants…who do you think actually pours all that concrete while the union guys are on their  contract stipulated seventh and eighth coffee breaks.

3) Our roads will suffer. When the Giants 340 lb lineman come tearing up the Turnpike in their massively inefficient Escalades, with their colossal Super Bowl rings New Jersey has to deal with the wasteland of pot holes left behind.

4) Come on its just the Jets. They aren’t exactly champions in the making, even with Favre. The Jets would have to somehow get into the the playoffs, then most likely face a trio of road opponents before finally upsetting some ridiculous juggernaut of a team to win the Super Bowl? 

When has that ever happened…

-MCS