9 ways you got screwed in 2017, New Jersey

Photo by the Associated Press

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By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A state shutdown. Commuter "hell." Ever-rising property taxes. And let's not forget all that nastiness in Washington.

Quite a few things in the world of politics, government, and beyond hit New Jerseyans hard in 2017.

Here's a look at nine of them. 

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1. Your state shut down (again!), New Jersey

The last time it happened was 2006 — when a budget standoff between then-Gov. Jon Corzine and Democratic lawmakers shut down the state government for eight crazy days.

Eleven years later, it happened again.

This time, a convoluted dispute over Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield led to another shutdown. Families were kicked out of camp sites over July 4th weekend. People couldn't go to the DMV. And state parks and beaches were closed to everyone.

Well, everyone except Gov. Chris Christie, who was famously captured in photos lounging at the private governor's residence at one of those closed beaches, leading New Jersey and its leader to become the butt of a new round of jokes across the country.

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2. Commuters got screwed (again!)

First came the derailments, then the "Summer of Hell."

A pair of NJ Transit trains derailed at Penn Station in New York City in March and April — the latter causing a week of overcrowding and delays for the thousands who commute to work across the state. In response, Amtrak — which owns the tracks that NJ Transit uses — spent much of the summer repairing its infrastructure, causing commuters to face delays and schedule shuffles again. (Some, however, said it wasn't so hellish after all.)

One bright spot emerged: the Gateway Project, which is supposed to bring two new rail tunnels across the Hudson River that New Jersey and New York will help pay for. But this week, it was revealed that will lead to a surcharge of 90 cents per trip, starting in 2020.

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3. Property taxes went up (again!)

It's one of the most dreaded things about living in New Jersey: property taxes that rank the highest in the nation. Christie enacted a 2 percent cap on local spending,  which has helped curb the upward trend. But in 2016, the average tax bill was more than $8,500 per home — a 2.35 percent increase from the year before. They were expected to rise again in 2017, though final figures are not available.

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4. The red states are plotting to screw Jersey on taxes

President Donald Trump has promised to deliver "big, fat, beautiful tax cuts" to people across America under the tax reform bill being considered in Congress.

But not in Jersey, apparently.

Not only has the legislation been criticized for giving larger cuts to the rich, it also hurts high-tax states like New Jersey. That's because it guts a major tax break for middle-class families to help pay for the cuts: the federal deduction for your state income tax and property tax. A bill could pass next week.

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5. A fear not seen since the '60s: nuclear war

Older Baby Boomers in this state remember diving under their school desk during air raid drills. We're not quite at that point yet, but tension between North Korea and Trump's administration has escalated over the last year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has launched threatening missile tests. And Trump has dismissed him as "Little Rocket Man" and threatened to retaliate against North Korea with "fire and fury."

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6. You spent nearly $20M to help finance a governor's race many didn't vote in

Christie is set to leave office next month after eight years in charge, and Democrat Phil Murphy was elected last month to succeed him, in case you didn't know.

Numbers show it's highly possible you didn't — or at least you didn't care. Even in the days before the election, polls showed about half of voters didn't know much about either Murphy or Republican challenger Kim Gaudango to form an opinion about them. And turnout was a dismal 38.5 percent — the lowest in state history for a governor's race.

But you did help pay for it. New Jersey has a program in which gubernatorial candidates who qualify receive $2 in public money for every $1 they raise. Between the primary and general election, it cost New Jerseyans nearly $20 million.

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7. The nastiness of the Trump campaign turned to the nastiness of Trump's first year in office (on both sides)

Trump critics hoped that maybe the insults and anger of the 2016 campaign would die down after the former Atlantic City casino mogul took office.

Nope.

Trump's Twitter feed continued to shoot arrows. And all you need to do is turn on cable news to see a Democrat or talking head denouncing the commander-in-chief's behavior. It's led to Facebook friends to become unfriended, endless water-cooler talk about Russia and neo-Nazis, and many uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinner conversations. In other words, 2017 has been a headache — for both those who like politics and who can't seem to avoid it.

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8. Twitter jumped to 280 characters, giving more to the Tweeter-in-chief (and his critics)

Oh, Twitter.

Many people across the country were already going a little more bonkers each day because of the content spread across everyone's favorite pithy social media platform. So how did Twitter respond? By adding 140 more characters to use.

The left worried that would give Trump more fuel to egg on North Korea. The right lamented that they'd have to see more tweets from celebrities with the hashtag "#NotMyPresident."

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9. A whole lot of people you may have liked were accused of sexual harassment (and worse)

As we come to a new year, nothing may have defined 2017 more than the #MeToo movement — in which women (and some men) were inspired to break their silence and share stories of being sexually harassed or assaulted.

First, it took down Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein, who helped finance some of your favorite movies. Soon, it was New Jersey's own Kevin Spacey, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, NBC's Matt Lauer, and more. Allegations of misconduct with teenage girls sank Roy Moore's Senate bid in Alabama.And many — including New Jersey U.S. Sen. Cory Booker — began calling for Trump to resign amid more than a dozen accusations.

It's a story that is likely to help define 2018, as well.

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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