Corzine Signs $29 Billion Budget Increasing New Jersey Taxes
The plan, enacted ahead of the July 1 constitutional deadline, is $4 billion smaller than this years. The governor, a first-term Democrat seeking re-election in November, said he trimmed spending the most in state history to balance the budget as the U.S. recession erodes tax collections.
“You can only spend as much as you take in. We had $5 billion less in taking in over the last year,” Corzine, 62, said today in a news conference outside the Statehouse in Trenton. “The budget choices Ive made may not always be popular in the moment, but theyve been responsible.”
Corzine and Democratic lawmakers called a weeklong halt to the budget process hours before a planned vote June 18 when he announced that a tax-amnesty initiative had yielded at least $400 million more than the state had projected; he said today that effort has brought in $525 million more than original expectations. Lawmakers used the money to restore some property- tax rebates that Corzine had proposed eliminating.
Under the plan signed today, families earning up to $75,000 will get property-tax rebates, while households with incomes up to $250,000 will be able to deduct property taxes from their income taxes. New Jerseys real-estate levies are the highest in the nation, averaging $7,045 per household in 2008, according to the state Department of Community Affairs.
Higher Taxes
The budget raises the states tax on cigarettes to $2.70 a pack from $2.575; on wine to 87.5 cents a gallon from 70 cents; and on liquor to $5.50 a gallon from $4.40. It also includes a one-year increase in the income tax rate for taxpayers exceeding $400,000 in earnings, and suspends the property-tax deduction for income taxpayers who make more than $250,000 and are not senior citizens or disabled.
Corzine and the states largest public-employee union agreed this month to his requests for 10 days of unpaid leave and an 18-month wage freeze, moves he estimated would save as much as $400 million. The deal still needs approval from union members.