New Jersey millionaire's tax back on the table as Gov. Phil Murphy submits budget
This is Murphy’s third-pitch for raising taxes on those earning at least $1 million per year
New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, has not given up his fight to raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents.
Murphy submitted his $40 billion fiscal 2021 budget on Tuesday, complete with a renewed call for a millionaire’s tax.
This is Murphy’s third-pitch for raising taxes on those earning at least $1 million a year. According to the budget, and consistent with past proposals, Murphy wants to raise taxes on this group to 10.75 percent, from 8.97 percent.
The higher rate is currently applied to those earning incomes more than $5 million.
The hike, according to Murphy’s office, would raise an estimated $494 million per year.
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During his State of the State address in January, Murphy promised to fight for the middle-class values that built the Garden State, including his “fight for a millionaire’s tax” to ease the property tax burden on millions of middle-class families and seniors.
“The millionaires and corporate CEOs made out just fine in the last recession, and I assure you they will again when the next one hits,” Murphy said.
Revenue from the tax, Murphy added, could also be used to fund schools.
The tax has been a long-time goal of Murphy's. Last year, he wanted to implement a millionaire’s tax with a top rate of 10.75 percent, however, amid disagreements with the state legislature, which threatened to shut down the state government, Murphy agreed to sign the budget without it.
At the time Murphy hinted that he was not quite ready to let the millionaire’s tax go. In July, he said the spending plan was a “victory for working class families” but that it also lacked tax fairness.
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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon weighed in on the tax during an interview with FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo last month, saying it's a bad policy that is hurting the people it is intended to help.
“They’re doing things that hurt the people,” Dimon said. “And so yes, you may get some billionaires out that you don’t want there, stuff like that, but you want jobs, you want production, want your school to work, you want infrastructure.”
As previously reported by FOX Business, New Jersey had the highest number of outbound migrations of all 50 states last year – at a rate of 68.5 percent. And the highest percentage of residents that left the state were wealthy, with nearly half of all outbound migrations occurring at income levels of $150,000 or more.