By Douglas Kellogg
Anyone who works, runs a business, or raises a family in New Jersey knows taxes are out of control.
The recent tax hike onslaught has seen New Jersey’s tax burden rise more than $3 billion since Gov. Murphy took office.
By signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Jack Ciattarelli has made the written, public commitment to New Jerseyans that there will be no tax hikes if he is elected governor. The tax hike onslaught will end on his watch.
Murphy and the Democrat-controlled legislature approved more than $2.7 billion in tax hikes during his first term – and Murphy had proposed another $1.2 billion in tax hikes beyond what he could get enacted.
This tax binge was so absurd, even Gov. Murphy infamously promised to stop increasing taxes during a 2021 gubernatorial debate… only to return to his tax and spend ways shortly after being reelected.
During his second term, the governor kept hammering away to impose new taxes, proposing taxes like a $1 truck excise “fee”, which failed in 2024. Then Murphy proposed a $2 truck excise “fee” in 2025.
Ultimately, the Democrat-controlled legislature approved a new gas tax increase, despite the state already having one of the highest gas taxes in the country. They increased the sports betting tax, increased the real estate transfer tax, increased the tax on cigarettes which drives up smuggling and helps criminals.
Most damaging of all, Democrats passed a new version of the corporate income tax surcharge, making New Jersey’s rate the highest in the nation.
How radical is New Jersey’s corporate rate? Socialist New York City Mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani wants to follow suit in increasing New York’s corporate tax. The is why one third of the Fortune 500 companies that were in New Jersey in 2006 have left.
Thanks in large part to high taxes, New Jersey is one of the biggest population losers, with more than 500,000 people leaving in the last decade, taking tens of billions of dollars in income with them.
This epitomizes the endless tax hike onslaught New Jersey families and businesses have faced. All to fuel massive spending increases.
The final budget under Gov. Murphy totaled $58.8 billion – a 69% increase from the $34.8 billion budget Murphy inherited.
Degrading the tax base while wildly increasing spending has had Phil Murphy and New Jersey Democrats chasing a fiscal death spiral of their own making.
Between Jack Ciattarelli and Mikie Sherrill, only Ciattarelli has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, committing to oppose all tax increases.
New Jersey needs tax cuts to become an attractive place to live and work. The state has fallen far behind as dozens of competitor states cut and eliminate their income taxes.
Ciattarelli has proposed a variety of tax relief measures, including gradually cutting the corporate tax rate down from 11.5% to 6.5%. He also wants to simplify and cut personal income tax rates and further cap property tax growth.
Additionally, Ciattarelli wants to end the multistate northeast carbon tax known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which cost $270 million last year. Pennsylvania has shown there is no need for RGGI as the state achieved similar carbon emission reductions by expanding natural gas production, growing their economy and creating jobs as well.
Ciattarelli also has advocated for a cap on state spending, which would limit pressure for tax hikes.
Sherrill’s proposals focus on tax credits, expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, while creating a Caregiver Tax Credit. These tax credits are refundable, meaning they are actually spending. These ideas will not reduce New Jersey’s tax burden and will in fact create more demand for taxes.
Sherrill has said, “Simply looking to fare hikes and taxes is just not an option.” Sherrill said she would look to selling advertisements and developing parking on transit-owned sites to generate revenue.
Sherrill has not signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to commit in writing to oppose tax increases.
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DOUGLAS KELLOGG is State Projects Director for Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).
