TRENTON — One day after Gov. Chris Christie called for givebacks from public workers in his budget address, Democrats said another group should have to share in the sacrifice: millionaires. Although the idea has not been endorsed by the party’s leadership, some Democrats are clamoring to renew the fight with Christie over enacting a "millionaires’ tax," which they tried...
State Sen. Shirley Turner speaks at a press conference in Trenton in this 2008 file photo.TRENTON — One day after Gov. Chris Christie called for givebacks from public workers in his budget address, Democrats said another group should have to share in the sacrifice: millionaires.
Although the idea has not been endorsed by the party’s leadership, some Democrats are clamoring to renew the fight with Christie over enacting a "millionaires’ tax," which they tried to create last year only to face a veto by the Republican governor.
"We’re all being hit by this economic tsunami. Those who can sacrifice the most should be paying the most. But that’s not what’s happening here in New Jersey. The millionaires, they got a free ride," said state Sen. Shirley K. Turner (D-Mercer), the first to introduce a millionaires tax bill this budget season.
The argument didn’t impress the Christie administration.
"That horse is already dead and they keep flogging it," said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak. "Throughout their decade-long dominance in Trenton, Democrats have raised taxes and fees relentlessly and spent recklessly. Look where that’s gotten us."
Christie took to the morning talk show circuit Wednesday to promote his budget and to rail against public sector unions. He blamed them for layoffs, rising property taxes and the state’s underfunded pension system. "We’re not trying to break the unions," he said on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" program. "The unions are trying to break the middle class."
The rhetoric shows the early fault lines emerging over the proposed $29.4 billion budget.
Turner’s bill is similar to the one that Democrats passed last year. It would raise the tax rate from 8.97 percent to 10.75 percent for household earnings over $1 million and dedicate the revenue to property tax relief. But Turner’s version would not expire after one year, as last year’s would have. Democrats last year said a millionaires tax would raise more than $600 million.
There’s also support for a millionaires tax among Assembly Democrats, but leaders of both houses of the Legislature have not yet formally endorsed the proposal. "No decision has yet been made on how the budget debate will proceed, but this much is clear — the governor has again put the heaviest property tax burden on working-class New Jerseyans," said Tom Hester Jr., spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex).
Chris Donnelly, a spokesman for Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), said, "Every option has to be on the table."
While appearing on "Morning Joe," Christie boasted that "spending is lower in our budget this year than it was last year." However, Christie’s spending plan is roughly equal to the one he signed last June. His proposal can only be considered a cut if he makes a $506 million pension payment before June 30, which would fatten the current budget.
Assembly Budget Chairman Lou Greenwald (D-Camden) said Christie is "playing games with New Jerseyans to score points with fawning national conservatives."
Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts rejected criticism. "The only real point of contention here is our budgeting the pension payment early, because we can afford to pay it early," he said.
By Matt Friedman and Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau staff