STUMP » Articles » Taxing Tuesday: New Jersey DEATHMATCH!!!! » 9 July 2019, 05:42

Where Stu & MP spout off about everything.

Taxing Tuesday: New Jersey DEATHMATCH!!!!  

by

9 July 2019, 05:42

Or maybe not.

Let’s go to the tape!

So, I saw this bit from Sweeney recently: Sweeney: Gov. Murphy supported the unions, fringe groups. The Legislature worked for everyone.

During the closing days of the state’s budget battle, the governor asked “whose side are you on?” He did not ask this question in front of the general public, but time and time again he asked it in front of the state’s public union leaders and others who represent the fringes of New Jersey.

Unlike the administration, the Legislature chose to forge a path of unity over division. For decades, while Washington has become more divided, the Legislature forged ahead in an effort to work together with people from all walks of life. While the administration may approach the state budget as a way to settle political scores, our Legislature uses it to lay out specific priorities. That is why for the second year in a row, the New Jersey Legislature voted on a budget that was not an ideological manifesto, but a practical document that reflects the varied needs and priorities of more than 9 million residents.

So let me cut in for a moment. Sweeney is the main guy in the NJ legislature: president of the NJ Senate. He has been in this position since 2010, and has been in the NJ Senate since 2002, and was an iron worker before he entered politics. He says he entered politics after he had a child born with Down Syndrome.

The governor of New Jersey, Murphy, was elected in 2017 and has been in office since January 2018. He had been ambassador to Germany during the Obama administration, before that had been a finance chair for the DNC. He had been at Goldman Sachs before getting involved in politics.

Both are Democrats, in case you needed me to tell you that.

Back to the piece (skipping over some stuff):

This year, the state Senate and the Assembly gave the administration a budget with a $1.410 billion surplus — $249.5 million more than Gov. Murphy originally proposed in February – with no new taxes. We funded virtually all of the administration’s priorities, and filled in the gaps where the administration budget fell short, but most importantly protected the priorities of the people; all of the people.

…..[laundry list of stuff]

Our fiscal crisis is far from over. Three years from now, New Jersey will be facing a $3 billion to $4 billion budget deficit unless we act quickly to reduce costs by enacting policies to protect the public employee pension system and reduce the growing cost of healthcare premiums impacting both taxpayers and public employees. More information on how the Legislature is working to make New Jersey more affordable can be found at www.pathtoprogressnj.org. These measures will not only help us balance the state budget, but also save billions of dollars in property taxes.

Until significant reforms are adopted, the state will continue to struggle to meet the diverse needs of our 9 million residents, including the most vulnerable.

We know whose side we are on: “Yours.”

Steve Sweeney is president of the New Jersey Senate.

Okay. That’s what Sweeney had to write.

Let’s see why he wrote this.

After this move by Gov. Murphy, it’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy” for Steve Sweeney | Mulshine

There was a day last week when Gov. Phil Murphy set aside all the infighting that infected the Statehouse in the recent budget fight.

…..
By Wednesday, the governor was back to his old tricks.

That was when his office released a list of $235 million worth of spending items that Murphy is putting on hold. The ostensible reason is that the budget he signed on Sunday June 30 does not include enough revenue for those items.

But Murphy’s got a big problem. Those items were put in the budget not by the opposition Republicans, but by his fellow Democrats who dominate both houses of the Legislature.

And those Democrats are angry.

…..
Sweeney was of the opinion that Murphy made the cuts to get revenge on him for failing to include an extension of the millionaire’s tax in the budget.

But if that’s the governor’s goal, he’s not going to achieve it, Sweeney said.

The Senate President is fond of pointing out that New Jersey’s rate for those making between $1 million and $5 million is already the highest in the Northeast at 8.97 percent.

Murphy wants to raise it to 10.75 percent.

This is a stupid idea for New Jersey. For heaven’s sake, some of us are paying a premium to live in New York so that we don’t have to say we live in New Jersey. If you take away the only benefit of being in New Jersey — that it’s cheaper than Connecticut and New York — where are you going to get your millionaires from? Westchester County is much nicer than Bergen County, y’all.

Back to the piece (after skipping a bit):

Sweeney argues that we can never make the state affordable while stuck with long-term liabilities for pensions and health benefits that exceed $230 billion.

He has said he won’t consider tax hikes until Murphy agrees to make the pension and benefits reforms in the “Path to Progress” report put together by a bipartisan group of legislators.

Murphy wanted the tax hike to go first. And at one of his press conferences in the middle of the fight, the governor brought up speakers who proposed raising the sales tax and reviving the estate tax as well.

via GIPHY

So let’s see, we’ve got the guy who would like to keep getting re-elected indefinitely, Sweeney. He is a New Jersey guy with no view for greater office. He seems like the sort perfectly happy in his position and would like to keep it, thank you very much.

We have a guy who is term-limited to two consecutive terms… and would be unlikely to try for another lick at the lollipop. He’s already made his nut at Goldman Sachs. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d like to be involved in the administration of the next Democratic President. With the current Dem crew, having to speak truth to teachers union power would not get him very far.

This is not the first Murphy-Sweeney dustup we’ve seen. Let’s check last year: Taxing Tuesday: Sticking it to New Jersey, Banning Soda Taxes, and More

TAX THE CORPORATIONS!

John Bury has been all over the NJ legislative session, but I’m going to pull out one item in particular from his recent post on the new corporate tax rate:

At 13% New Jersey now has the highest top corporate tax rate in the nation. The argument for the hike is that most corporations got a massive reduction on their federal taxes and they can afford to pay New Jersey more. The question remains why they would want to pay New Jersey more as they are competing against companies in other states that also got that massive federal tax cut in addition to those tax cuts from their home states who are eager to keep them in business there.

That’s the problem in a nutshell, eh?

Who wants to live in New Jersey? A lot of people live there because it’s cheaper than being in NY. That’s its main draw.

It’s not just individuals – it’s also corporations. I remember a bunch of previously-Manhattan-based corporations moving offices to NJ when I was working there. A lot of the Prudential & MetLife folks got pushed over the border… and as many of the employees were already living over in NJ, it may have been a boon to them.

But if you’re going to have to pay the same high taxes, what’s the point? Might as well go somewhere cheaper.

….
So an increase from 9% to 13% — that’s a 4 percentage point increase. No big deal, right?

IT’S A FRICKIN 44 PERCENT INCREASE IN THE TOTAL TAX ON THE SAME INCOME.

I swear.

Oh, and my piece in January on the battle between these two guys I made all the same points as above. So enjoy. This is going to continue until one of the two leave office. I’m willing to bet, absent death, Murphy will be the first to leave.

TAX STORIES

Oh yay. As it is, we keep getting pushed into Putnam County or into Connecticut to do most of our shopping — not only the taxes, but the plastic bag bans. Blah.

TAX TWEETS


(dear lord, the photo editor is not being subtle… Trump looks like a wax figure in this pic)

I could run about 50 different tweets on this story, so let me just pick the ones with the most interesting pictures.


I really think they’re not going to find much interesting in the tax returns.


But hey, maybe it will keep Congress out of trouble.


THANKS, CUOMO!

I’m really looking forward to my tax dollars being spent on defending this law in federal court. IT WILL BE AWESOME.




Let me see if you can tell the difference between taking less money from people…. and giving people more of other people’s money.




Yes, we know, Trump.


Related Posts
Taxing Tuesday: Let's Tax the Rich in NY! It Will Really Work This Time!
Taxing Tuesday: New York is Still Number One! Also: MORE TAXES FOR EVERYBODY!
Taxing Tuesday: Taxing Our Own Rich Folk Ain't Enough! Bail Us Out!
| Main |