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New Jersey Property-Tax Average Rises to Record High of $9,112

New Jersey Property-Tax Average Rises to Record High of $9,112

New Jersey average property taxes, the highest in the nation, were $9,112 in 2020, reflecting a 1.8% increase from the prior year.

Among the 566 municipalities listed, one-third had average bills in excess of $10,000, the maximum state and local tax, or SALT, deduction under the 2017 law enacted by then-President Donald Trump. Lawmakers from high-tax states including New York, New Jersey and California are pushing to repeal the law, which they say has sucked money from Democratic states and channeled it to those controlled by Republicans.

The data release, by the state community affairs department, was reported earlier by NJSpotlight.com.

Tavistock -- a five-resident southern New Jersey borough incorporated in the 1920s to skirt a prohibition on Sunday golf-- was tops, at $30,328, according to the data. Millburn, home to the luxury Mall at Short Hills, was second-highest, at $24,370.

Princeton, Alpine, Demarest and Tenafly, all popular with Manhattan commuters, were among the towns whose average tax bill exceeded $20,000. Montclair, another commuter favorite, hit $19,963.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, signed a law in 2010 capping annual property-tax increases at 2%, with exceptions for increased pension and health-care costs, debt payments and emergencies. Property taxes in 2020 were 20% higher than the average $7,576 a decade earlier.

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