The Star-Ledger’s Paul Mulshine nails it. Governor Murphy’s proposed budget borrows $4 billion and increases taxes by another $1 billion.  Borrowing money to pay for current costs like the pension payment or a budget surplus just shifts these costs to future generations – our kids and grandkids.   And expanding the millionaire’s tax and adding a permanent corporate tax and a healthcare tax will only make NJ’s current outmigration problem even worse.  NJ citizens and corporations already have the highest taxes in the region – the states that NJ competes with for people, businesses, jobs and wealth.  And NJ already has one of the worst outmigrations of people, businesses and wealth in the nation.  This means that our future generations will have a weaker economy as well as higher debts to pay off.  

Why would Governor Murphy do this?  So he can take care of his public-sector union political allies:  No lay-offs, virtually no belt tightening, a full payment to fund the public pensions.

Murphy’s budget is good for the public-sector unions but bad for NJ and especially bad for our future generations.