Republicans Criticize Proposed NJ Budget: ‘Anything But Affordable’

NEW JERSEY — A group of Republican state lawmakers in New Jersey are panning Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed state budget, criticizing additional taxes and alleging it’s full of “pork” that can be trimmed to lower spending levels.

The governor presented his latest state budget proposal on Tuesday. Murphy said the record $58.1 billion spending plan reflects his administration's “ongoing and unrelenting commitment to building a New Jersey that is stronger, fairer, and more prepared for the future.” Watch his full address here.

Murphy’s speech came amid news that the state is facing a potential $3.7 billion budget hole, though the actual deficit could be closer to $1.2 billion. There is also worry that a bitter budget battle in Washington D.C. could mean a lot less money for the Garden State. See Related: More Taxes, Big Spending: 5 Takeaways From Murphy’s Final Budget

Some New Jersey residents and activists have been demanding that lawmakers balance the budget on the backs of the state’s richest corporations and people – not the lower and middle class. Read More: NJ Activists Rally On Budget: ‘We Want Justice, Tax The Rich’

Other political pundits are offering a much different take on the next state budget, however.

On Tuesday, Republican Sens. Anthony Bucco and Declan O’Scanlon joined their fellow GOP Assembly members John DiMaio and Nancy Muñoz at a news conference to speak about Murphy’s 2026 budget address (watch the video below, or view it online here).

“This upcoming budget is anything but affordable,” Muñoz said.

“State and local taxes have gone up by $30 billion over Gov. Murphy's tenure, and we still have an unmanageable budget deficit,” Muñoz added. “So how is New Jersey fairer and stronger?”

Muñoz also said that worries about potential cuts to Medicaid and other federally powered health care programs are being blown out of proportion. See Related: House Budget Bill Could Slash Medicaid: See How NJ Reps Voted

“They're deflecting blame on the federal government that hasn’t even happened yet, and meanwhile, they're spending money we don't have and relying on revenues that won't materialize,” Muñoz said.

“Let's be clear, we do not want Medicaid or Medicare funding slashed,” Muñoz said, responding to a reporter’s question. “However, I think right now, these are scare tactics because we don't know what those numbers will be – and we certainly will wait to see.”

Bucco said that New Jersey residents are still paying the “highest property taxes in the nation” with many people “living paycheck to paycheck.”

“They can't raise the money fast enough to keep up with the spending, and the governor said it today – [we’re] going to have another structural deficit,” Bucco said. “Now we can debate on whether that's a $1 billion structural deficit or anywhere up to $4 billion for the next administration, but the fact of the matter is, we continue here in the state to spend more than we take in.”

Bucco said if it wasn’t for the influx of federal aid that came with the coronavirus pandemic, New Jersey would have hit a fiscal cliff even earlier.

“Unfortunately, spending the money the way it has been spent is a missed opportunity,” the senator continued.

“Many of the problems that the governor spoke about today could have been fixed if we had utilized that money in a different fashion,” Bucco said, pointing to the state’s school funding formula as an example.

• See Related: 200+ NJ School Jobs To Be Axed, Despite $44.7M In Last-Ditch State Aid

O’Scanlon also said the state needs to rethink how it funds local schools in the wake of last year's controversy.

“The governor mentioned [Tuesday] that every student was going to benefit from the increased funding in schools, and every taxpayer, he suggested, was benefiting from the massive increase in school funding – close to $4 billion as of this budget – yet only a handful of school districts benefited,” he said.

“Half of our school districts didn't keep up with inflation, and at least half of them had cuts,” O’Scanlon said. “These are districts that are facing crisis, that are facing bankruptcy, that are eliminating extracurricular activities, eliminating sports, dramatically increasing class sizes. These are school board members coming to me saying: ‘We have to shut off lights … we have no idea we're going to survive, other than dismantling the quality education for our kids.’”

“We should be having an absolute, structurally balanced deficit, and we are not doing either of those things,” O’Scanlon said. “It's a serious problem, one that will again be dumped into the lap of the next governor.”

• See Related: Governor Who? NJ Voters Murky On Candidates For 2025, Poll Says

“I've been hearing for months there was going to be cuts in this budget – 5 percent across the board – where are they?” questioned DiMaio, claiming that there was $700 million of “pork” in Murphy’s proposed spending plan, which will be the term-limited governor’s final state budget.

“He's limping across the finish line,” DiMaio said.

Al Barlas, another member of the Assembly Budget Committee, criticized Murphy for proposing tax hikes on gambling, alcohol, car trade-ins, recreational sports, interior design, personal trucks and digital services.

“He proposed more than a dozen tax hikes in this budget and it still won’t pay for his spending habits,” Barlas said. “That’s being careless with other people’s money and doesn’t account for the automatic tax hikes people face like property taxes and payroll taxes.”

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