the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Assemblyman Erik Peterson is calling on Gov. Phil Murphy to refund taxpayers with the $1 billion tax revenue windfall announced by the treasurer.
The treasury department said the state was moving up its revenue projections for the current fiscal year by $1 billion. The Murphy administration has included the increased revenue in its $41 billion budget with about $300 million going to public employee pensions.
“The $1 billion windfall should be returned to the taxpayers as an overpayment refund,” said Peterson (R-Hunterdon). “However, if Governor Murphy cannot bring himself to do the right thing and give back the money he overcharged taxpayers, he should at the very least pay down the mountain of debt weighing down New Jersey’s economy.”
New Jersey’s has the largest debt-to-taxpayer ratio in the nation, and is in the worst financial position overall. Despite the revenue windfall, Murphy plans to keep on a pension schedule that would provide 80 percent of a full pension payment. Pensions are the biggest portion of debt owed by the state.
“The governor plans to spend the entire overpayment while still calling for nearly a billion dollars in new taxes and fees,” continued Peterson. “His budget is going to exacerbate the state’s outmigration of the wealthy taxpayers who pay over a third of New Jersey’s taxes, leaving middle-class families to shoulder a greater percentage of the Democrats over-burdensome tax and spend addiction.”
About half of expected revenue increases in Murphy’s fiscal 2021 budget are from new taxes, including a tax on millionaires, cigarettes and a corporate responsibility fee for businesses with employees on Medicaid.
“Targeted tax increases on businesses and those who have the income to invest in New Jersey’s future will only make New Jersey less competitive, and give those targeted for the tax increases another reason to leave New Jersey for a state that is more tax friendly,” said Peterson. “New Jersey needs a governor and legislature that understands the budget should be designed to put New Jerseyans on the road to economic prosperity and not on a road to another state where low taxes bring prosperity and increased tax revenue. Governor Murphy should do the right thing and give the taxpayers back their money.”