With the college football season beginning this weekend, and with pro football starting just one week later, it’s time to root for your favorite team(s). Residents of New Jersey have gotten a head start—the National Conference of State Legislators has found that New Jersey’s budget increased the most of any state!
New Jersey’s budget increased by $1.9 billion, a five percent increase. New Jersey is now number one in sales tax (tied with three other states), number one in cigarette tax, and number one in property tax. What a trifecta!
On the other hand, some states actually decreased taxes this year: Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.
New Jersey, of course, suffered through the budget shutdown crisis in July, and the Garden State’s new $30.8 billion budget increased sales tax from 6% to 7%. In an article in the Newark Star-Ledger, New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance is quoted as saying, “Businesses are fleeing New Jersey as well as residents, and it’s very discouraging.”
There was one bit of good news in the article. New Jersey’s gasoline tax (14.5 cents/gallon) is the third lowest in the U.S. Unfortunately, New Jersey has the second worst tax climate for business (according to the Tax Foundation), and until that problem is corrected the Garden State is caught in a perpetual slide.