New Study: The NJEA Is One of the Most Powerful Teachers Unions in the Nation and Takes More of Teachers’ Money than Any Other Union.
May 29, 2026Like NJ, States With Powerful Teachers Unions Have Weaker Student Recovery from the Pandemic, Yet They Spend 70% More on Education
June 9, 2026Exxon and Samsung are leaving New Jersey for Texas. New Jersey has the highest corporate tax rate in the nation, while Texas has no corporate tax. All the jobs, salaries, consumer spending — and tax revenues — will disappear from New Jersey. That hurts our economy and our state. So why does New Jersey have the highest corporate tax rate the nation?
“For The Many:” NJEA and its NJEA-funded allies persistently push for higher taxes. Because a deep-pocketed, taxpayer-funded special interest has the wherewithal to fund allies and create coalitions to persistently push for higher taxes. Look no further than “For The Many,” a coalition currently conducting a lobbying campaign: “Tell NJ Lawmakers: Make the Wealthy Pay What They Owe” because “the wealthiest households and biggest corporations are not paying their fair share.” For The Many has also called for higher estate and sales taxes in the past. The NJEA’s pal, former-Gov. Phil Murphy, dutifully complied, jacking up state government spending 70% over his two terms and hiking taxes to pay for it. That’s why New Jersey now has the 4th-highest income tax rate (10.75% — behind only CA, HI, and NY) and the highest corporate tax rate (11.5% — followed by MN, IL and AK). But the NJEA and its allies want them higher still, including what would be the very highest income-tax rate in the nation. They want a tax trifecta for New Jersey: the highest income, corporate, and property taxes in the nation. Too bad if it hurts our economy and the state.
For The Many’s deceptive advertising. Below is a pop-up ad on InsiderNJ that links to a Substack post by Eric Benson, Coalition Manager of For The Many (currently employed by the NJEA-funded New Jersey Policy Perspective).
Note that the ad says “Billionaires are cheating the system,” but the fact is that For The Many wants to hike taxes on millionaires, not just billionaires. That’s deceptive advertising.
For The Many: A NJEA-funded coalition. Of course, someone has to pay for the ad, so where did For The Many get the money? Since neither Mr. Benson nor the For The Many website say who is in their coalition, we will. Here’s the Steering Committee (along with their NJEA funding):
- New Jersey Policy Perspective (co-convener, $1.9 million)
- New Jersey Working Families Alliance (co-convener, $1 million)
- New Jersey Citizen Action ($35,000)
- New Jersey Work Environment Council ($496,000)
- Environment New Jersey
- Make the Road New Jersey
- Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey ($8,500)
- New Jersey Education Association
- Communications Workers of America – NJ
- Amalgamated Transit Union – NJ
- Clean Water Action
The biggest special interest and deepest-pockets in the coalition belong to the taxpayer-funded NJEA and it has liberally funded the two co-conveners, New Jersey Policy Perspective and New Jersey Working Family Alliance, with millions. It’s business as usual for the NJEA: For The Many is just one of many coalitions that the NJEA has formed over the years to push for higher taxes (see Sunlight’s report on the NJEA’s vast network of allies). As always, the coalition makes the NJEA’s lobbying for higher taxes appear more broad-based and less self-interested.
But high taxes cause businesses to flee. For The Many’s Benson claims that high taxes do not cause outmigration, but common sense and the facts indicate otherwise. Exxon (incorporated in New Jersey since 1882) just announced that it is moving to Texas, as did Samsung’s US subsidiary. This is how NorthJersey.com’s Daniel Munoz describes Samsung’s move:
No state income taxes. No corporate business tax. Companies have continually eyed Texas as a better place to do business than a state like New Jersey. New Jersey, after all, has the highest corporate tax rate of any state at 11.5% …
Think of the jobs, salaries, consumer spending — and tax revenues — that will disappear from New Jersey with these two major corporations.
And billionaires. Here’s a partial list of the billionaires leaving California in anticipation of a new wealth tax: Larry Page (to Florida), Sergey Brin (Florida), Mark Zuckerberg (Florida), Peter Thiel (Florida), Travis Kalanick (Texas), and David Sacks (Florida). California is set to lose hundreds of millions in tax revenues from just these few leaving. As Sunlight has detailed, people and wealth are leaving New Jersey for lower-tax states, too.
Memo to Benson: Florida and Texas do not have state income taxes.
The taxpayer-funded NJEA is using tax dollars to lobby for higher taxes. It’s a rigged system: the taxpayer-funded NJEA is spending our tax dollars to organize its (often NJEA-funded) allies to lobby for the highest taxes in the nation. Don’t be fooled New Jerseyans: it’s hurting our economy and our state. As always in New Jersey, the special interests and their (largely Democratic) political pals win. Everyone else loses.