Top New Jersey Democratic lawmaker: Time to fix the Garden State, not tax it

New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Friday that efforts by his fellow Democrats to retaliate over resistance to Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed tax increases are “silly.”

“He needs to understand that as Democrats in the legislature we are in the same party,” Sweeney told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney.

Sweeney was responding to reports that Murphy’s allies may launch a public campaign to stop his opposition to the tax increase.

“It’s time to stop talking taxes, and it’s now time to talk about fixing New Jersey,” Sweeney added.

New Jersey’s taxes are the seventh highest in the U.S., according to Tax Foundation analysis. Sweeney said more people will flee if taxes go any higher.

The governor is “raising taxes right now in a high-tax state where the people who can leave will leave,” he said. “Why don’t we start looking at how we fix the government itself first?”

Murphy, a former Wall Street executive, has proposed more than $1.5 billion in new taxes in his first budget to help pay for education, transportation and pension increases. But Sweeney is concerned that the state can’t afford to pay for the new tax hikes.

“When the governor talks about this, he says this is the first installment of four installments,” Sweeney said. “This one costs $1.7 billion. Where is the money come from next year to make the next installment?”