On September 17, 2020 New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced an agreement has been reached to move forward with modernizing the existing New Jersey Millionaire’s Tax. USWU and IUJAT's Connor Shaw stood side by side with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy at a press conference last year detailing the push for a new millionaire's tax.
Statement from Connor Shaw, Assistant Political Director, International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades & United Service Workers Union on Agreement to Modernize New Jersey’s Millionaire’s Tax:
“On behalf of our more than 8,000 members across the Garden State, we want to thank Governor Phil Murphy and State Legislative leaders for their efforts to modernize the states millionaire’s tax to reflect the current economic reality and provide urgent assistance to working families.
Expanding the income tax rate by 1.78 percent for those earning between $1 million and $5 million a year, amounts to about $18,000 per year for someone making $2 million annually.
This is not about government getting bigger and adding more bureaucracy, but instead providing a lifeline for New Jersey residents who have been economically devastated by the COVID pandemic and resulting downturn. So many of our fellow New Jerseyans have lost jobs, seen their wages cut and suffered enormously during this difficult time.
The state intends to use most of the estimated $390 million raised to assist working class families by granting them rebates of up to $500 to help them begin to dig out of the financial hole they have been put into through no fault of their own.
Many of our members were essential workers during the pandemic, risking their lives and the lives of their families to care of their fellow New Jerseyans. It is time that those earning millions of dollars a year be asked to do their part as well.
In 2019 when the governor began the latest legislative push to institute this change, we were there to support and speak up on behalf of the push for tax fairness and for the future of working people in New Jersey.”
Learn more about the legislation, including middle class tax cuts, here.