Murphy’s $1.2 Billion ‘Sin Tax’ Plan for New Jersey Sparks Bipartisan Backlash

The governor of New Jersey wants to go all in on sin, proposing more than a billion dollars in new or increased taxes and fees on everything from online gambling to alcohol.Phil Murphy, who is currently serving his final term in office recently put forward a $58.1 billion budget for the state which includes a plan for $1.2 billion in taxes and fees. The plan not only goes after vice goods like booze, marijuana, and tobacco products, it also looks to tax any sort of recreation by slapping increased levies on activities like go-kart racing, laser tag, and bowling.“We’re pretty much taxing almost everything you can have fun doing while in the state of New Jersey,” a Republican representing Cumberland County, State Senator Mike Testa, said during legislative meetings last week, adding that the proposed hikes were “perplexing.”Among the new hikes proposed include raising cigarette taxes up to $3 per pack and increasing vapor products to 30 percent, a 10 percent hike on alcohol, and a new $30 tax per every ounce of marijuana products sold.Even Drones — which became an issue for New Jersey after a spate of mysterious flights rattled residents late last year — would carry a new excise tax on UAVs purchased in the state.The budget plan also seeks to gain revenue from taxes and fees on warehouse truck traffic, including for food transportation, vehicle trade-ins, and digital services. The proposal would likely increase the cost of everyday items for the residents in the Garden State on top of inflation expected to be on the horizon after the Trump Administration’s recent move to place tariffs on 57 countries and other entities like the European Union.During testimony at a public hearing last month, Tom Bracken, president and CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce slammed the proposal citing how it does nothing to address a “lack of focus” on the fragile economy of the state.“The budget proposal you are considering represents a continuation of increased spending, a growing support for the state’s progress initiatives, and does nothing to address our fragile economic future. This formula must stop,” he said during the hearing. “Seven years of lack of focus and investment has caught up to us. Significant investments in our economy by assisting our business community in becoming more affordable, competitive, and business friendly needs to start now. It is way overdue.”The proposed budget has met opposition from both sides of the aisle at Trenton.“I want to make it clear to everybody who’s listening to this, there’s no desire from this legislature to tax those services,” state senator Paul Sarlo, a Democrat representing Bergen County who also chairs the Budget Committee said during last week’s hearing.Mr. Murphy’s plan was also criticized by others sitting on the committee.“The middle-class in New Jersey is continually nickel-and-dimed by tax increases that takes money out of people’s pockets,” Senator Rumpf, a republican lawmaker from Ocean County said in a released statement, adding that the proposed increases would wind up costing the state more than $1 billion.“These tax hikes are regressive. Paychecks are lower and bills are higher, the price of goods keeps going up and finances are becoming a bigger concern for people and their families across the state.”

Murphy’s $1.2 Billion ‘Sin Tax’ Plan for New Jersey Sparks Bipartisan Backlash

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