NJ Gov. Murphy Makes New Tax Pitch In State-Of-The-State Address

TRENTON – Gov. Phil Murphy made another pitch for a millionaire's tax in his 2020 State-of-the-State address on Tuesday, outlining what he considers his plans to improve the financial security of New Jersey’s middle-class families (see the video below).

In his annual address to the state Legislature, Murphy reiterated his desire to raise the marginal income tax of those with incomes over $1 million per year from 8.97 to 10.75 percent, as it was in 2009. He also outlined several new initiatives in health care and ethics rules in state government.

In addressing the millionaire's tax, Murphy appeared to take a shot at Senate President Steve Sweeney, who opposes the idea and favors removing a cap on property taxes instead to help provide more aid to ailing school districts.

Murphy said "some in Trenton claim the best way to make our state stronger is to undo the common-sense, middle-class-building accomplishments that we’ve made together. They want us to make the same false and failed choices made a decade ago."

"Trenton tried their way. And, history is clear – that way failed. New Jersey hobbled its way through economic recovery because their choices failed to create jobs and failed to raise incomes," he said in his prepared remarks.

Murphy said he's not giving up the fight for a millionaire’s tax, "so we can ease the property tax burden on millions of middle-class families and seniors, and do more to help fund our public schools."

"Overwhelming majorities of residents – of all political stripes – support this. We should, too," he said in his prepared remarks.

The remarks came just as Murphy vetoed legislation on Monday that lawmakers hoped would quell the uproar over school aid cuts in New Jersey. But, by encouraging property tax hikes, the new plan could have created a new one.

Murphy vetoed a bill championed by Sweeney that would have allowed as many as 40 school districts to immediately raise taxes to make up for school funding losses. Ultimately, more than 100 districts may have been able to take advantage of the legislation over the next 5 years.

"Before middle-class property taxpayers have to again take it on the chin, we should be asking our wealthiest residents to pay their fair share through a millionaire’s tax,” said Murphy.

Read more: NJ Gov. Murphy Vetoes Raising Property Taxes To Fix School Aid

Murphy said millionaires and corporate CEOs should be able to contribute their fair share, saying they "made out just fine in the last recession – and, I assure you, they will again when the next one hits," he said in his prepared remarks.

"Thanks to the federal tax system, the richest 400 Americans now pay a lower tax rate than the nation’s middle class – the first time that has ever happened."

Murphy said the state also is working to protect the Affordable Care Act and prevent the Trump administration from dismantling what's known as Obamacare, saying the federal legislation "has benefited millions of our residents."

Murphy said he is establishing an Office of Health Care Affordability and Transparency, in the Governor’s Office, to work across state agencies and "lead critical efforts to reduce consumer health care costs, make insurance more affordable, and improve price transparency."

"And – to ensure we have the facts – I am directing the Department of Banking and Insurance to work with this new office to track the actual costs residents pay for the health care services they receive. Armed with this data, we will make smart decisions to limit cost increases and set new standards for quality and transparency," he said in his prepard remarks.

Murphy also said he's also creating a new task force – including government officials, academic researchers and faith and community leaders – with the specific charge to address wealth disparity from all angles and all causes.

"Their work will better inform our work in closing these gaps, and ensure that the communities which have historically been left behind can help us lead," he said in his prepared remarks.

Murphy said he's also talked with New Jersey college graduates who are afraid that they won’t find the employment they want with the skills they have. So he's directed New Jersey's Jobs and Economic Opportunity Council to "generate a plan to do just that."

Murphy presented a plan called “Jobs NJ" to better align the education system to meet the future needs of both employers and workers, "and do better at matching our workers with potential employers."

Jobs NJ will clear a path to ongoing job training, so residents can continue to learn and compete as the needs of employers evolve with new technologies and new economic realities, he said.

Murphy said the plan will also close longstanding structural and racial equity gaps that have kept some of the state's residents from job training and skills development – whether they come from historically underserved communities, they're new immigrants, or they're formerly incarcerated individuals re-entering the workforce.

Murphy also addressed fixing NJ Transit. He said his administration is undergoing a series of reforms to change the agency's fundamental operations.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in state budget investments have been restored, he said, and they're "unquestionably improving things – data clearly shows that cancellations are down and on-time performance is up. "

Soon, he said, NJ Transit will announce a 10-year strategic plan and, beyond that, a 5-year capital plan, to guide the agency through the decade.

"These aren’t just “new” plans – it’s actually the first time these have ever been done," he said in his prepared remarks.

Also, in the coming weeks, Murphy will propose a series of ethics reforms to, among other things, strengthen financial disclosures, tighten pay-to-play requirements, expand transparency and increase awareness "to the goings-on in Trenton."

"It’s been more than a decade since the executive and legislative branches undertook comprehensive ethics reform," he said in his prepared remarks. "It’s time now for us to look at it anew, with a whole-of-government approach that ensures we all live under the same laws, and play by the same rules."

Murphy said the state must be "disgusted" by the stories in which women – across the entire spectrum of race, age, and experience – tell of their mistreatment by men who felt empowered, if not protected, by Trenton’s culture.

"For too many years, too many people in power have turned their eyes away from behavior they knew was not only happening, but was pervasive in Trenton," he said in his prepared remarks. "We know that Trenton is often resistant to change, and this is a most egregious failure."

Under Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, law enforcement now has clear new directives for investigating crimes of sexual assault, ensuring greater empathy for – and support of – survivors, he said.

Murphy also addressed the recent tragedy in Jersey City, saying the state "was shattered by the gunfire of anti-Semitism and hate."

Murphy talked about the six people who died in Jersey City in December, noting that "a heralded police detective – Joseph Seals – and three innocent people – Mindy Ferencz, Moshe Deutsch, and Douglas Miguel Rodriguez – were murdered in what we now know was an act of domestic terror fueled by a vicious and unjustifiable hate."

"This was an act of hate against the Jewish community and law enforcement, but it impacted everyone," he said in his prepared remarks. "Hundreds of schoolchildren and their educators were held in lockdown, including in a Catholic school across the street. Worried parents feared the worst. African-American residents hid in their basements."

Murphy said he will proudly sign legislation "to provide additional security aid for our houses of worship, and to expand the definition of, and penalties for, domestic terrorism."

Here are his remarks: