What the Star-Ledger’s Tom Moran Didn’t Ask Working Families’ Sue Altman
December 4, 2019A “Fact-Lite” Statement from Working Families
December 6, 2019NJ Spotlight wrote a revealing article on Governor Murphy’s tax-hike plans. If it were up to Murphy – that is, if senate president Sweeney weren’t resisting Murphy – the state sales tax would rise from 6.625% to 7%. It is true that some items like groceries and clothing are exempted, but make no mistake about the impact of the hike.
The article cites New Jersey Policy Perspective – funded largely by the public sector unions, so you know whom they speak for – which dismisses the effect on middle-class New Jerseyans. NJPP echoes former NJEA Executive Director (and multi-millionaire) Ed Richardson who famously asked: “who’s complaining about the sales tax anyway?”
For big-ticket items like a new car, the sales tax matters. A economy car with a price tag of $26,600 would result in a sales tax difference of $100. Maybe $100 doesn’t matter to millionaires like Murphy and Richardson but it matters to middle-class car purchasers.
Then remember that the sales tax was reduced as part of Gov. Christie’s deal to raise the gasoline tax by 23 cents a gallon – another tax paid by middle-class car drivers. That’s $5 in additional taxes every time you fill up your gas tank. But apparently Gov. Murphy doesn’t think that matters either.
Murphy and his public sector union backers want higher gas taxes AND sales taxes. Why? As NJ Spotlight makes clear: Murphy has long criticized the sales-tax cut “which has cost the state budget more than $500 million a year at a time when bills for things like public-worker pensions have been rising.” There you have it: Gov. Murphy is looking out for his public sector union allies and is perfectly happy to stick middle-class New Jerseyans to do it.
Don’t be fooled New Jersey. Our overall tax burden – property, income, sales, gas taxes – is among the very highest in the country. And Gov. Murphy wants to raise them even higher to take care of his special interest friends.
Read the full NJ Spotlight article here.