During Phil Murphy's "state of the state" address in January, he paused to single out Jack Curtis in the balcony.

Curtis was once a Republican alderman in Dover, but the governor's shout out had nothing to do with that.

Murphy praised Curtis for devoting much time and energy to highlighting what seems like quite a scam - "fake farmers" who are getting thousands of dollars in property tax breaks.

In a state where property taxes are the highest in the nation, that's quite the benefit.

This issue is not new, but because the beneficiaries tend to be well-off (that's being understated) nothing changes.

It is not really disputed that farmers in New Jersey - the Garden State, mind you - should get some help. The state's 60-year farmland assessment policy does that by drastically reducing property taxes on farms.

But what makes a farm?

This is not an academic question.

The policy says a farm must be at least 5-acres and produce at least $1,000 worth of products annually.

That's it.

In real life, this means that people with homes on say, 30 acres, can claim to grow - and sell - some tomatoes or cucumbers - and pay virtually no property taxes on their so-called farmland.

It gets "better."

Curtis notes that all this is on the honor system. The state does not check to see if, indeed, someone is selling even $1,000 worth of products.

Back in January, shortly after the governor's speech, I took a trip with Curtis around his hometown of Mendham Township.

We drove by many gated-homes and estates, just about all of which, he said, are using the farmland assessment loophole. That comes out to a roughly 98-percent property tax reduction.

Statewide, Curtis has searched tax records and identified the likes of Donald Trump, Steve Forbes, Woody Johnson, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon-Jovi as those taking advantage of the law.

It's worth remembering that none of these people - or those like them - are doing anything illegal.

But that, naturally, is also the point.

A bill to create a commission to review the farmland assessment program, and maybe change the law, was introduced a few months ago.

That's the bill Murphy talked about in his speech.

A commission, of course, may turn out to mean nothing at all. But it could be a first step, Could be that is.

The bill, introduced by Morris County Republicans Joe Pennacchio in the Senate and Aura Dunn in the Assembly, has gone nowhere.

Pennacchio said this week that changes made by Democrats, who control both houses, weakend the bill. But even with the changes, there apparently was no support for the bill in the legislative session that ended a few weeks ago.

Still, Pennacchio said he hopes the bill will advance in the lame duck session later this year, Curtis, not surprisingly, is a bit skeptical.

What doesn't need to be said is that the affluent individuals taking advantage of the current system have considerable political influence.

As noted, one of them is the president of the United States; another owns the New York Jets.

Curtis, in a recent conversation, stressed the fact selling farm products is on the honor system. He lamented that state income taxes are not paid the same way.

"I could say I made $7,000 and pay nothing," he said.