The New Jersey Millionaires Tax Bill

New Jersey Democrats are slated to introduce a new “millionaires” tax bill. Senator Ray Lesniak (D-NJ) and other representatives seem to want all their constituents, including the extremely wealthy, to shill out more money to help stabilize New Jersey’s economy.

Governor Chris Christie, however, has promised to veto any proposed tax increases, which pundits interpret to be symbolic efforts made by Democratic legislators to rally the troops. The party wants to repair its blue-collar credentials by appealing to working-class voters, a demographic that is angrily responding to legislation that curtails employee benefits and rights.

Lesniak has said that he wants all constituents to share the “sacrifice” needed to stabilize the fragile economy of his state. The additional revenue that would hopefully come from this legislation could be spent on schools, tax rebates for older citizens, and police departments that have had to lay off employees due to budget cuts.

Gov. Christie has been asked before why he refuses to tax New Jersey millionaires to do, among other things, restore cuts to such socially beneficiary programs such as Medicaid. Christie’s response, that New Jersey is the most highly-taxed state in the country, means he does not want to raise taxes 2010 anymore.

Gov. Christie vetoed a similar “millionaires” tax a year ago. Democratic representatives could not muster enough votes to override it. The alternative for Gov. Christie being, of course, cuts to pensions and other workers’ benefits. Despite protests numbering thousands of participants at the state capitol, such bills have mostly been successful.