What was behind Senate President’s Fox News bombshell that he plans to block the millionaires tax and possibly dig into the state’s entire property-tax structure?

Carl Golden


Carl Golden opines for NJ Spotlight:


Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) appeared on a Fox News Channel show last week and drove a stake through the heart of the major component of Gov. Phil Murphy’s legislative agenda.


In response to a question from the show’s host, Sweeney at first reiterated his belief that, in light of the federal cap on allowable deductions for state and local taxes, the prudent move for New Jersey would be a delay in considering the governor’s proposal to increase taxes on incomes over $1 million.


He then went a giant step further, declaring that he had assembled a panel of budget and tax experts to study the state’s entire tax structure, not merely the impact of an increase on the wealthy, to determine its fairness and whether it is achieving its stated policy goals.


He referenced the local property-tax system in his remarks, pointing out that the $8,549 per year average was the highest in the nation, and suggesting it, too, should be included in a comprehensive study of the state’s tax system.


He said he believed government took in sufficient tax revenue and that the task for the administration and the Legislature was to ensure it was being spent wisely.


It was positively Reaganesque! Remember the Reagan drumbeat: Government doesn’t have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem.

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