Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin reiterated his pledge today for no new taxes in this year’s budget, standing alongside his Senate counterpart and potentially against a governor who has indicated that he may propose more tax hikes this year.
As reported by Politico, Coughlin said, “I have said I will insist on not having any new taxes in the budget, but we have to be mindful of funding the state’s priorities.” He was speaking on his monthly radio show Friday morning called Speak to the Speaker.
The debate over taxes in the FY 2020 budget actually began in December, when Gov. Phil Murphy, said he would not take tax increases off the list of proposals when he proposes a new budget in March.
That prompted Senate President Steve Sweeney to say the Senate would not consider tax increases until the state tackles structural reforms to government spending and fiscal practices. Sweeney put together a comprehensive list of reforms with the help of a working group of economists and other policy experts over the summer.
Lawmakers raised income and corporate taxes this past July. While the tax increases were less than what was originally proposed, they still added to what was already a challenging business tax climate.
NJBIA opposed raising taxes last year and is making it a priority to stop tax hikes again this year.
Read the Politico story here (subscription required).
