TRENTON — The highly publicized push by Democrats to raise taxes on millionaires to restore some rebates ended quickly on the Assembly floor Monday. One month after Gov. Chris Christie struck it down with his veto pen, Assembly Democrats failed to muster the 54 votes needed for an override. Following months of heated talk from Democrats and Republicans, the...
The New Jersey Assembly debates and votes on "millionaires tax" bill in Trenton in May. TRENTON — The highly publicized push by Democrats to raise taxes on millionaires to restore some rebates ended quickly on the Assembly floor Monday.
One month after Gov. Chris Christie struck it down with his veto pen, Assembly Democrats failed to muster the 54 votes needed for an override. Following months of heated talk from Democrats and Republicans, the millionaires tax was declared dead after debate lasting barely half an hour Monday.
“Unfortunately, Republicans sided with millionaires over senior citizens, even when they had a chance to correct their mistake,” said Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex).
The Assembly actually voted on a companion bill to the millionaires tax, also vetoed by Christie last month, that would dedicate the estimated $600 million the tax would raise to restoring property tax rebates for seniors and the disabled. After that failed, they did not vote on the bill that would institute the tax.
The override vote came down on partisan lines, with 47 Democrats voting for it and 33 Republicans voting against it. A total of 54 were needed for the two-thirds majority to override the veto. The one-year tax would have raised the tax rate on income from households with income over $1 million from 8.97 to 10.75 percent. A similar tax on households earning more than $400,000 a year expired at the end of last year.
“If they were as pure in their motives as they suggest, they would have buckled down before the new governor arrived and reinstated this job-killing tax before they let it expire in December,” said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak. “But since they didn’t, it’s plainly obvious that this was not only a fruitless effort, but a political stunt.”
Democrats said Republicans sided with Christie and 16,000 millionaires over 600,000 seniors who stand to lose their rebate checks.
“This is a chance to show independence and cast a vote of conscience, not of politics,” said Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester), the bill’s sponsor.
Republicans accused Democrats of political grandstanding.
“The worst governments in history pitted one group against another to maintain power,” said Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R-Monmouth). “That’s what’s happening here.”
| 'Millionaires tax' bills pass both houses, but are vetoed by Gov. Christie |