As budget discussions continue in the statehouse ahead of the June 30 deadline to pass the Fiscal Year 2025 state budget, key lawmakers have started discussing a possible sales tax hike as another source of revenue for the Treasury’s coffers.
At a Senate Budget Committee earlier this week, Chairman Paul Sarlo delicately brought up the idea of a possible hike to the sales tax, from the current 6.625% back to 7%, while cautioning first that “nobody should read into any of this.”
“Going from 6.675 back to 7% would be more stable than the corporation business tax on the higher earning income companies, which could vary from year to year,” he said, referring to the proposed 2.5% additional surtax on businesses with more than $10 million in profits.
“These are all just options. I’m not supporting any of them. I’m not supporting any of these options. It’s our job now with budget hearings coming to an end to deliberate on all the different options available,” Sarlo added.
The proposed Corporate Business Tax, or CBT, was included in Governor Phil Murphy’s proposed budget as an option to provide funding for the cash strapped NJ Transit system, which would be in addition to planned fare hikes.
Advocates for a sales tax increase argue that would provide the state with a more steady source of income than a tax on large corporations.
Sarlo’s comments were followed up by the Chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Committee, Eliana Pintor-Marin, who asked New Jersey state Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio how much such a tax hike would bring in, to which Muoio responded “approximately $800 million.
“This was all just a hypothetical,” Pintor Marin said afterward, while adding that “it’s just good for us to have those numbers in order for us to analyze.”
The last time the sales tax was raised was in 2006, under then Governor Jon Corzine, and it took a government shutdown to achieve that deal. Former Governor Chris Christie lowered it slightly under a larger deal with the Legislature that also increased the gas tax while eliminating the estate tax.
how about the governor should take a hike
Politics at their best How about giving everyone an accounting of where all the other money is going tp for the transit improvements we keep paying every other day for where is all the money from Parkway hikes going Turnpike hikes Gas hikes schools tax money Lottery money that is suppose to be helping our schools Vets seniors etc if these hikes are in place than they should only be used for that project not to be used to put steak on a politicians table or their around the world vacation stop using us as your personal bank accounts when we cant even afford our own food medical care house taxes insurance and any other expense we deal with on a daily basis we are tired of being your peons if you dont have money for the project dont do it we do without why cant you.
The Democrats have created this problem with all the give aways. Stop spending money you don’t have,
Governor knuckle head once said if you are not in favor of high taxes maybe New Jersey is not where you should live.
As the people the have to pay these tax increases maybe we need to elect that know how to manage money
Time to move out of Nj