Murphy’s NJ Budget Pits Progressive Goals Versus Tax-Cut Pleas
- GOP wants state to unleash surplus for instant tax relief
- Less than two years to deadline to parcel out US pandemic aid
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New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has hung on to federal pandemic aid as a hedge against potential recession. As he unveils his annual budget on Tuesday, he’s under pressure to use what’s left to help lower the expense of living and doing business in one of the highest-cost states in the US.
The current fiscal year’s $50.6 billion budget was a record high, more than one-third bigger than Murphy’s first spending plan, in 2018. It included a $6.8 billion pension payment; $2 billion in property-tax rebates and hundreds of millions of dollars for schools, affordable housing and health care.