Governor Phil Murphy has repeatedly raised taxes since taking office in 2018, Save Jerseyans, and his borrowing-supported FY 2022 budget guarantees major tax increases down the road (after Murphy is safely reelected).
On Wednesday’s edition of Larry Kudlow’s Fox Business program, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D, NJ-05) – a staunch Murphy ally – was forced to admit that he doesn’t agree with everything happening on Murphy’s watch at the moment specificially where taxes are concerned. Gottheimer made the comments during an exchange with Kudlow over the fate of the Trump-era SALT deduction cap.
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“It is a trillion dollar hit of S.A.L.T. to the economy and to all these folks. So all I’m saying is — you agree that double taxation in principle is wrong; I know you do because I know those are good conservative values you have,” said Gottheimer. “So why on God’s Earth have double taxtation, why should be get hit device on same income? That’s why we had this deduction in the first place”
“Josh, stop raising taxes in your home state. Run for governor,” responded Kudlow.
“I don’t vote for those,” replied a clearly uncomfortable Kudlow. “I agree that we should stop raising taxes. I think we should lower taxes.”
By way of background, Gottheimer has made repealing the SALT cap a centerpiece of his activism in Congress; an internal Democrat debate over the cap’s future (specifically since, as Kudlow pointed out, it’s generally a tax on wealthier Americans which Democrats normally LOVE) is threatening to derail one the Biden Administration’s spending proposals.
We’ve called out Gottheimer before for his doublespeak on this issue as well as his failure to call out his own party in Trenton for creating such a high SALT burden in the first place.
He’s yet to directly call out Murphy and the Trenton Democrats for any of it, but it’s pretty telling that he’s not willing to defend them!
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