In an op-ed published on NJ.com, Tom Byrne, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party and a former chairman of the N.J. State Investment Council, takes issue with Governor Murphy’s recent assertions that New Jersey’s economy has grown stronger under his policies:

“In a recent op-ed, Gov. Phil Murphy stated that “New Jersey is getting stronger” but cited no data in support of that claim. In fact, the most recent data shows New Jersey tied for dead last among states in the mainland U.S. in economic growth so far this year.”

In an interview with Elise Young and Danielle Moran of Bloomberg, Senate President Steve Sweeney offered an ominous warning on the state of New Jersey’s finances: “Why am I yelling fire in a crowded theater and everyone else is saying that we’re fine,” Sweeney said. “We’re not. And it’s going to go up in flames. I would rather not go down in memory as the guy that told everyone the pension system was going to collapse and be found that I was correct.”

Bloomberg reported that the state’s retirement system had about $82 billion of assets in 2018, only 38% of what it needs to cover checks that are owed in the decades ahead. That’s lower than any other state system in the U.S.

Garden State Initiative’s president Regina Egea was interviewed by TaxNotes.com’s Lauren Loricchio on the concept of New Jersey entering into a multistate tax incentives truce:

“However, Regina Egea, president of the conservative think tank Garden State Initiative, was skeptical that such a compact could work, pointing out that the Kansas-Missouri compact is regional. "I haven't seen anything that would indicate that [Kansas and Missouri] think there's enough commonality of interest that they would expand that to the state level," she told Tax Notes August 16.

Egea said she can't imagine why Cuomo or Wolf would support such a truce because they have more favorable tax environments for businesses. "As long as we insist on keeping our tax rates so high, we'll be required — just to level the playing field — to use incentives," she said. “

In an op-ed published on NJ.com, Jared Walczak, the director of state policy at the Tax Foundation, takes apart the latest lawsuit filed by high tax states against the IRS on the SALT deduction cap:

“…this lawsuit may be more about posturing than law. It’s about supposedly progressive states trying to shield their high earners from the consequence of their own state tax laws, or at least about looking like they’re trying to do so. It’s a stunt in service to a shell game. Your tax dollars at work.”

NJBiz.com reports on GSI’s release of our latest Adding It All Up report focused on achieving savings in New Jersey’s infrastructure investments:

“In the report, GSI identifies three cost savings recommendations for the state: de-layering and consolidation of services; private public partnerships; and modernizing project planning, budgeting and scoring.”

On ROI-NJ.com, Emily Bader reports on GSI’s analysis of the gap between public and private sector benefit costs in the US and in New Jersey:

“Garden State Initiative on Thursday analyzed the latest employee compensation data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and found major differences in compensation costs between the public and private sectors.

In particular, GSI said government costs for pensions and medical benefits far exceeded the private sector, especially when looking at how New Jersey spends. The analysis said there’s a 50% differential in cost between the state and the rest of the U.S.”

The editorial board of the Asbury Park Press takes Governor Phil Murphy to task for allowing the arbitration cap for uniformed services to expire and sees it as an example of his indifference to taxpayers and the state’s looming fiscal crisis:

“…Murphy not only has failed to provide significant tax relief, he has done nothing to address the state’s structural financial problems, made worse by his refusal to do what is necessary to rein in public employee pension and health benefits costs. We are one recession away from a fiscal disaster.”

In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal credits New Jersey’s legislative leaders, specifically Senate President Steve Sweeney, for resisting Governor Phil Murphy’s calls for a extended “millionaire’s tax”. The Journal’s editorial board wrote:

“For a second time, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has signed a state budget without the “millionaire’s tax” he has been pitching since his 2017 election. Weary New Jerseyites can’t yet breathe a sigh of relief. But their Legislature—unlike in Illinois or Connecticut—seems to realize that it’s possible to run out of other people’s money.“

With the Fiscal Year 2020 state budget barely in the rear-view mirror, NJ Spotlight’s John Reitmeyer takes a look at the lingering issues that will impact the Fiscal Year 2021 budget, including some ominous numbers regarding the state’s public employee pension payment obligations:

“High on the list of rising costs will be another big increase in funding for the public-worker pension system. A record $3.8 billion contribution was just written into the fiscal year 2020 budget.

The contribution for the FY2021 budget is scheduled to be around $4.5 billion, and at the moment there’s no plan in place to cover that hefty increase.”

On July 1st, New Jersey’s minimum wage rose to $10 per hour, part of the state’s incremental increase to $15 per hour. NJ Spotlight’s Colleen O’Dea, included GSI’s president Regina Egea’s analysis in her report:

“For many who operate on narrow profit margins, the employer has two realistic options: reduce staff hours and headcount, or raise prices,” she (Egea) said. “We will be watching with interest the state’s employment reports in coming months to analyze the jobs numbers in the industries that employ minimum wage workers, like retail, for example.”