By Abigail Gilder
Staff Writer
Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivered an address proposing a more consumer-friendly budget for the fiscal year 2025 in New Jersey on Feb. 27. This budget includes raised corporate taxes, raised state revenue taxes and more funding toward specific sections of the state’s infrastructure.
Prior to his presentation on the new budget, Murphy claimed that his proposal was intended to “keep our state and economy moving forward,” according to NBC.
Murphy’s budget is among the highest proposed, including a surplus of $6.1 billion, where $3.5 billion dollars are meant to go towards direct property tax relief. The budget also includes $82.5 million towards Pharmaceutical Assistance for the Aged and Disabled and Senior Gold programs, which cut costs for prescription drugs.
While the budget suggested is large in its entirety, Murphy states that it is meant to serve the people and help low income families afford many basic necessities. He said that “from lowering the cost of prescription drugs to lightening the weight of property taxes, our budget will help more families save more money,” according to NBC.
Murphy has additionally allocated $3.1 billion towards colleges and universities in New Jersey, leading to increased affordability of higher education. The budget builds on an on-going promise to allow New Jerseyeans to have a “low-cost college education by 2025,” according to North Jersey News.
A large focus of Murphy’s budget is the proposed tax increases on large corporations, which is meant to further fund the NJ Transit System. While it is expected to generate $818 million in revenue, many corporations are outraged at these new impositions. According to the New Jersey Monitor, Tom Bracken, CEO of the state Chamber of Commerce, called this new tax a “major step backwards,” and others have voiced similar sentiments.
Murphy’s new budget also included $1.8 billion more than projected revenues. While he claims this increase will benefit the people, some are concerned of the effects this budget will have on state revenue taxes as it would increase the annual spending to “a record-high” of almost $56 billion, according to NJ Spotlight News.
Some Republican lawmakers also expressed concern about the state's surplus, which would decrease by $2 billion, and criticized Murphy as a result of this budget proposal, as reported by the New Jersey Monitor.
“History has shown us, over the next few months, Democrats will add hundreds of millions of dollars for pet projects in their communities. These budget add-ons do not make New Jersey stronger, only more expensive,” Republican Sen. Jon Bramnick said.
This new budget, if passed, will not begin until July 1.
