Vladimir Lenin once said that treaties were meant to be broken. Like pie crusts.
Governor Phil Murphy has the same view of promises made to New Jersey taxpayers. To get re-elected, Murphy swore he would never raise taxes again. Breaking that promise did not take long. He has already signed a tax hike, weakened the state’s property tax cap, and is looking for more promise-breaking tax increases as a budget is finalized.
In 2021, during a debate against Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli, Gov. Murphy clearly stated, multiple times, that his days of raising taxes on the people of New Jersey were over. He even went as far as to say, “I pledge not to raise taxes.”
Despite this promise, Gov. Murphy signed a gas tax increase in March, A4011. The bill annually increases the state’s tax on gasoline and diesel by 1.9¢ until 2029. Making a total tax increase of 9.5¢ per gallon, costing drivers $367 million overall.
The money grab will add to the inflation crushing New Jersey families, pushing already-high gas prices to the stratosphere. New Jersey gas stations will be vulnerable to competing states.
Previous state gas tax increases saw a decrease in the total amount of gas purchased within New Jersey. This risks creating pressure to increase other taxes if revenue expectations fall short.
Shockingly, a sales tax increase is also being discussed – another disastrous idea and especially terrible with stubborn inflation.
New Jersey is even considering crippling its massive success as a sports betting leader by doubling the tax on online betting. The vast majority of bets are placed online. The state’s sports betting revenues keep increasing, in large part due to competitive tax rates, rising 8.3% in May.
Another boneheaded tax hike that will make New Jersey a less enticing place to do business when compared to its neighbors is the governor’s proposal to reinstate the corporate income tax surcharge.
The surcharge makes New Jersey the worst tax climate for businesses in the nation, taking the rate from 9% to 11.5% for corporations with $10 million in income. With neighboring Pennsylvania recently beginning the process of lowering its corporate tax rate to 5.99%, even with Democrat governors, businesses do not even have to move south to avoid Jersey’s job-killing business environment.
The tax hike assault continues: New Jersey homeowners are about to see their property tax bills grow, as Gov. Murphy has signed into law legislation that undermines the state’s 2% cap on property taxes. New Jersey already has the highest property taxes in the entire nation.
With even higher taxes on the horizon, more New Jerseyans will be driven out of the state due to the growing affordability crisis.
It will come as no surprise that New Jersey saw its citizens move out of the state at a higher rate than any other state in the country in 2023.
Gov. Murphy has betrayed his no-tax-hike promise, and returned to his tax-and-spend ways. This is why voters need to see such statements put into writing through the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, so that politicians like Gov. Murphy can be held accountable.
There was plenty of reason to believe the governor would not live up to his promise. In his first term, he spearheaded $2.7 billion in tax hikes. Yet, he proposed even more tax increases, totaling $4 billion, leaving more than $1 billion worth of tax increases on the table.
This perfect storm of tax hikes would hit families, homeowners, working people, business, all to fuel ever-growing government. The state budget has increased by 30% since 2018. While total government spending in New Jersey has increased by 50%.
Murphy’s no tax hike stance is turning into an expensive lie. New Jerseyans are paying the price as more Murphy tax hikes only make an unbearable tax burden worse, turning up the heat in tax hell.
