New Jersey is among the most taxed, restricted and regulated states in the country, according to a study published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

And the lack of freedoms isn’t just limited to fireworks and raw milk, the experts say.

High taxes and regulations covering most aspects of modern life are why the Garden State ranks 48 out of the 50 states in terms of freedoms, the study found.

Founded in 1980, the Mercatus Center conducts market-oriented research work with graduate students at George Mason University. The Center has ties to billionaire Charles Koch, who sits on its board of directors, according to the Mercatus website. Koch and his brother David operate Koch Industries, one of the largest privately held companies in America and are frequent contributors to Republican and tea party candidates.

New Jersey is highly regulated and highly taxed, said Jason Sorens, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Buffalo, who co-authored the report for the Mercatus Center. The state also has significant debt, averaged at 22.1 percent of income, the experts found.

The state’s property tax burden and other financial obligations don’t translate to increased government spending – partly because New Jersey pays significantly more to the federal government than it gets back in grants and other subsidies, Sorens said.

“Most of the time some equivalence between income and spending is expected,” Sorens said. “But New Jersey is average in government spending, while it has among the highest taxes in the country.”

Other factors that dragged New Jersey down the list were gun controls that are among the tightest in the country, relatively restrictive marijuana laws, and property rights protections that were “abysmal,” the report concluded.

The state also ranked dead-last in terms of travel freedoms, owing to seat belt laws, motorcycle and bicycle helmet requirements, and sobriety checkpoints, among other factors, Sorens and co-author William Ruger found.

The Garden State has been near the bottom of the rankings over the past decade – with rankings at 46, 47 and 48 over the years 2001, 2007 and 2009 of the Mercatus study, respectively. In 2011, the state ranked 49th.

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This year, New York was ranked at 50, and California at 49. The top five “freest” states were North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.

Recommendations for the Garden State to improve its ranking were to slash property taxes, end rent control, and liberalize travel restrictions such as seat belt and cell phone-while-driving laws, while also cutting spending on libraries, sanitation and sewerage, and employee retirement benefits, they found.

A general historical pattern of which states were free or not free emerged from the latest study, Sorens said. Freedoms were affected by how early a state had become urbanized. Places that had urbanized with labor and progressive movements in the 19th century were generally more inclined to accept more regulations and restrictions, he said.

“With states that had early urbanization, we found that it influences present-day ideology,” Sorens said.

Some onlookers were not surprised by the ranking.

“This isn’t surprising to small-business owners in New Jersey,” said Laurie Ehlbeck, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. "The politicians and bureaucrats at every level have their fingers in virtually every commercial and personal activity in New Jersey.”

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