The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Trenton NJ, The Republican members of the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee called on the Democrat Majority to immediately release explanations for the hundreds of line items that were added to the FY 2024 State Budget in the hours before its adoption.
Continue reading Democrats’ “Crazy Eddie” Budget Resolutions Costing Taxpayers Billions
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Trenton NJ, New Jersey Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio accused of intentionally misleading legislators on behalf of the Murphy administration in an attempt to hide the state’s rapidly increasing debt, the Republican members of the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee repeated their calls for the Treasurer to be held accountable by the committee in a letter today (click here for PDF) to Senate Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo (D-36).
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Trenton NJ, The Republican members of the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee — Senate Republican Budget Officer Steven Oroho (R-24), Senator Sam Thompson (R-12), Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13), and Senator Michael Testa (R-1) — issued the following background brief today on the Murphy Administration’s pending closing on $4 billion of emergency bonds:
Continue reading Critics Shred Governor Murphy’s “Crazy Eddie ” Budget and Bond Scheme
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Trenton NJ, NJBIA Vice President of Government Affairs Christopher Emigholz issued the following statement regarding the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services’ (OLS) state revenue projections of $37.8 billion next year, $1.4 billion more than the approximately $36.4 billion in revenues estimated by the Murphy administration.
Continue reading $5 billion in borrowing and New Taxes Proposed by Governor Murphy are not Needed
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Trenton NJ, Senator Steven Oroho has sent a letter to Senator Paul Sarlo, chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, calling for at least one Senate Budget Committee meeting to be open to public testimony. The public is currently not allowed to attend any of the Budget hearings. Committee members, invitees, and staff will participate from remote locations using video conferencing technology. The public may view the meeting through the State Legislatures homepage.
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ROSELAND NJ, Statement by Ralph Albert Thomas, CPA (DC), CGMA, CEO and Executive Director of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants
This morning, Governor Phil Murphy delivered his budget proposal for New Jersey’s new, nine-month fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJCPA) is deeply concerned that the proposal looks very much like the unworkable budget introduced six months ago — plus $4 billion in new borrowing — before the coronavirus pandemic decimated New Jersey’s economy.
Continue reading Governor Misses Mark On Addressing New Jersey’s Long-Term Structural Deficit
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Trenton NJ, CIANJ President Anthony Russo commented on the Governors budget address, “In these uncertain and unprecedented times, the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey (CIANJ) was disappointed that the Governor’s proposed nine month FY21 budget includes new taxes, extensive borrowing and limited reductions in state spending,” said Anthony Russo, President, CIANJ. “New Jersey has never been in a more dire economic situation with nearly a million and half New Jerseyans filing for unemployment and businesses suffering significant losses.”
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Trenton NJ, New Jersey Business and Industry Association calls Governor Murphy’s 2021 Budget with $1.4 Billion Spending Increase Is Irresponsible:
“This budget simply does not reflect the stark reality of our times. Instead of keeping expenses low for our taxpayers, Governor Murphy is raising taxes to make New Jersey businesses less competitive. Instead of holding the line on spending, Governor Murphy has proposed spending $1.4 billion or 3.6% more than the prior year and $5.4 billion or 15.6% more than the budget three years ago before he took office.
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Trenton NJ, Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi roasts the Murphy budget :
“Today was Governor Murphy’s Budget Message. On its face someone could listen and say “I support that” or “I welcome the middle class relief” being proposed. Unfortunately our true middle class will never see any of the promised items put forth today. One can just look to one of the very first statements made during the speech that NJ is finally “putting the breaks on the financial roller coaster” we have been on. This statement is surreal in light of the fact that NJ has increased spending by $6.3 BILLION in just 3 years. This represents an 18% spending increase in a 3 year period. We are doubling down on spending practices that got our state into its current fiscal mess. We keep hearing the message of Fairer and Stronger for the middle class.
Continue reading Murphy’s Budget Represents an 18% Spending Increase in 3 Years
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Trenton NJ, On the eve of Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget address that is expected to call for more unnecessary tax increases, NJBIA released its updated 2020 Business Climate Analysis showing New Jersey has the least competitive business climate, with the highest corporate tax, state sales tax, income tax and property taxes in the region.
Continue reading New Jersey Ranks Worst Business Climate in the Region
file photo by Boyd Loving
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Trenton NJ, NJ Chamber of Commerce President Tom Bracken’s
Statement on State Budget
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce believes the 2020 state budget that Gov. Phil Murphy signed today represents a promising step toward the fiscal responsibility New Jersey needs to revitalize its economy.
Continue reading NJ Chamber of Commerce President Tom Bracken : ” It is critical that our state leaders take additional steps to improve New Jersey’s economy and make our state more competitive and affordable.”
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Trenton NJ, Gov. Phil Murph’s budget proposed fiscal year 2020 budget will do nothing to help the middle class and will likely do more to harm the state’s economy said Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce (R- Morris, Essex Passaic).
DeCroce said the governor’s plan to increase spending and taxes and broadening programs, such free county college tuition, will not reduce property taxes — the number one issue for the middle class in New Jersey.
“The governor says repeatedly he wants to help the middle class, but he actions do not back up his statements,” said DeCroce
“The governor wants the state to spend more money; he wants to expand programs and increase school funding. But the state cannot afford the programs it has now, so how is increasing taxes and spending more money help the middle class?” asked DeCroce.
Continue reading Murphy’s Budget Proposal Does Not Help Middle Class
July 24,2018
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Trenton NJ, This afternoon the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee held a hearing on SCR132, a constitutional amendment to overhaul New Jersey’s revenue certification process. SCR132 would take away the governor’s constitutional authority to certify revenues and create a joint legislative and executive branch panel to provide consensus revenue certification. New Jersey would become the 29th state in the nation to adopt this budget forecasting framework.
NEW JEREY POLICY PERSPECTIVE PRESIDENT GORDON MacINNES:
“This change to the budgeting process is long overdue and will bring more clarity, collaboration, and credibility to the state’s revenue projections. Consensus forecasting follows best practices from across the country and ensures economic factors – not political ones – set the parameters of the budget debate.
For the state to fully realize the benefits of this reform, the legislature should also pursue multi-year budgeting practices to better prepare New Jersey for the future. These changes could lead to a healthier, more democratic budget debate, boost public trust, and produce better results for a state budget that has suffered from years of politically convenient decisions.
However, while consensus revenue forecasting is an important change to the constitution, it should not be made with the same swift action that defines the last-minute budget practices the state seeks to reform.”
Full testimony by NJPP President Gordon MacInnes: https://www.njpp.org/budget/njpp-testimony-revenue-certification-reform-is-long-overdue
June 27,2018
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MOUNTAINSIDE NJ The Hugin for Senate campaign continued a statewide tour of roundtable events to discuss the affordability crisis gripping New Jersey and the impact of the proposed state budgets in Red Bank this morning.
Speaking to local business owners, Hugin discussed taxes, burdensome regulations, and healthcare with the group. John Dwyer, who represents the Hazlet Business Owners Association that includes more than 150 local businesses, kicked off the discussion on the impact of tax hikes on employees and employers.
“More taxes aren’t the solution, they’re only going to make things worse,” said Dwyer. “My employees are hard working folks that know how to hustle, but elected officials needs to wake up and realize they are hurting employees and employers with their pie in the sky efforts.”
“What government doesn’t understand is that we have to look at everything. Healthcare, for example, for employers is out of sight. If we can figure out that issue, it would probably solve most of the problems we as business owners have,” said Rena Levine Levy, co-owner of WindMill Restaurants, a chain that started in 1963 in Long Branch.
“Making New Jersey more affordable means seeking ways to support small businesses and encourage job creation. The fight in Trenton—over which taxes to increase—isn’t addressing the problem: the state is becoming an increasingly unaffordable place to live and operate a business,” said U.S. Senate candidate Bob Hugin.
Hugin’s affordability tour will continue tomorrow in Toms River where he will be meeting with young professionals and later in the day in Bayville where he will be meeting with seniors.
Bob Hugin, a Marine Corps Veteran and business leader who has created thousands of New Jersey jobs, is running for U.S. Senate to challenge incumbent Senator Bob Menendez. For more information visit bobhugin.com.
June 13,2018
Assemblyman Kevin J. Rooney (R 40)
(Kevin J. Rooney, a Republican, is an Assemblyman representing parts of Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in the 40th Legislative District.)
Ridgewood NJ, A Monmouth University poll recently found the unsurprising fact that New Jerseyans are more concerned about their nation-high property taxes than any other issue in the state. The second biggest concern is all the other taxes we have to pay.
Yet, our governor has presented a budget that intends to raise taxes by $1.7 billion, with over $729 million of that tax hike being forced on the low- and middle-class by increasing the sales tax and expanding it to Uber, Lyft, AirBNB and online shoppers.
In the meantime, his budget reduces overall property tax relief by keeping state aid from municipalities and cutting rebates for low-income families, seniors and the disabled in half. But don’t worry taxpayers; the money Gov. Phil Murphy is cutting from property tax relief will be going toward raises for the public unions who got him elected.
For decades the number one issue in New Jersey has been our incredibly high property taxes. So lowering property taxes should be his number one priority.
But it’s not.
Instead, Murphy talks out of both sides of his mouth. First he talks about the state’s budget problems then proposes spending that costs a billion dollars more than his misguided tax hikes. His plan to prop-up his budget is no different than the past governors he criticizes for passing on this mess.
The plan will divert half of the money from an environmental settlement with ExxonMobil to prop-up his budget, in direct contradiction to his campaign promise to use environmental money for environmental purposes. Those New Jersey values he likes to talk about aren’t reflected, because Murphy is not only breaking a promise, he is blatantly disregarding the will of the voters who elected him. Those same voters constitutionally dedicated environmental money for environmental purposes just last year.
Murphy will also use money the state received from a settlement with Volkswagen to prop-up his budget, and he raided affordable housing funds so towns with court-ordered obligations have to put the entire cost burden on property tax payers who are unwillingly being forced to build housing that is not wanted or needed.
Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver made it clear what the problem is while addressing the Assembly Budget Committee. She said the governor “probably had no idea” as a candidate last year just how bad the state’s budget problems really are.
He seems fine with having no idea of what the state’s budget problems are. New Jersey has been cited as being in the worst fiscal condition in the nation, with our state’s long-term finances having been referred to as “dire.” While we can’t pay for all of the programs we have now, Murphy is piling on with new unaffordable programs.
In addition to free community college, universal pre-K, financial aid for unauthorized immigrants and salary increases for his cabinet officials; Murphy has recently proposed giving science, technology, engineering and math employees, but nobody else, student debt relief. The employers will even be required to match whatever amount the state reimburses.
All of these extravagant programs are well intended, but they are very irresponsible and clearly show that his attention is on an unrealistic New Jersey utopia rather than a state in dire straits whose residents just want somebody to lower their property taxes.
Murphy and his Democrat colleagues have even become somewhat hypocritical about property taxes.
While continually complaining about the federal government capping property tax deductions at $10,000, Democrats ignore that the cap was modeled on what New Jersey already does.
The common-sense response is to eliminate New Jersey’s own $10,000 cap to help residents who get hit by the new federal cap. That would provide immediate property tax relief for our residents. Unfortunately, that idea has been voted down four times by Democrats, who have controlled the legislature since 2001.
In its place is a superficial scheme to create government charities that would give tax credits for contributions. The scheme won’t work because the IRS has to recognize a charitable organization before it becomes legitimate. That is a hard sell when there is no real charitable intent and a public campaign parading this plan as an escape from federal tax policy.
In fact, the IRS has already given notice to states that the scheme won’t work. So Murphy will just entangle the state in another costly lawsuit — there are 30 –against the federal government on the taxpayer’s dime.
Murphy is out of tune with state taxpayers. He is redirecting funds against the public will and using the same gimmicks that he claims got the state in this mess in the first place. And with three weeks left to sign a balanced budget, he still plans to raise taxes and spending and provide less relief.
