New Jersey
Debate Over New Jersey’s Millionaires and ITEP’s Data
May 21, 2018 • By Steve Wamhoff
New Jersey’s new governor, Phil Murphy campaigned on a promise to raise state income taxes on millionaires, a proposal that is supported by 70 percent of the state and was, until recently, backed by New Jersey’s Senate President, Steve Sweeney. In recent months, Sweeney changed his position on the proposed millionaires tax and called for an increase in New Jersey’s corporate tax instead. The idea of hiking taxes on corporations is not a bad one, particularly since corporations received a windfall from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But Sweeney’s new opposition to an income tax hike for the state’s…
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: DACA Recipients Contribute $59 Million Per Year in Taxes
May 15, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
The ITEP study found that New Jersey’s young immigrants eligible for DACA contribute $59 million in state and local taxes each year, the seventh highest level of all fifty states. These contributions would increase by $38 million per year – the sixth most of all states – if all of those eligible for DACA enrolled […]
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes: County Breakdown of Taxes Paid
April 16, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
While undocumented immigrants in New Jersey now face greater threats from the federal government than ever before, new data at the state and county level released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy make clear that the Garden State’s undocumented immigrants are an important economic benefit to this immigrant-rich state. Read more here
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Op-Ed: Tax Law Requires More Than ‘SALT Cap’ Workarounds
March 14, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
If you live in a high-wealth and high-tax state like New Jersey, the news gets worse. For the first time in 100 years, taxpayers may no longer deduct their full state and local taxes (“SALT” for short) from the income on which federal taxes are owed. The deductible ceiling is set at $10,000, so if you pay more than that with property and income taxes combined, your taxable income will increase by a bit.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Op-Ed: How to Counter the GOP Tax Plan with Bold Action
February 14, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
The new federal tax law has generated a lot of press, sparked a fair amount of outrage and led many elected officials scrambling to respond with sound policies. Unfortunately, there seems to be widespread confusion about the winners and losers under the new law – confusion that is complicating efforts to clean up New Jersey’s tax code and raise new resources to invest in critical public services.
NJPP: A Grain of ‘SALT’: New Jersey Needs More Than Workarounds to Respond to GOP Tax Plan
January 25, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
That’s because these workarounds would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest households in New Jersey, to make no mention of the fact that the Trump administration is unlikely to allow them to stand.
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: Failure to Act on DACA and Dream Act Would Harm New Jersey’s Tax Revenues
December 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
There are 53,000 young immigrants who were potentially eligible for DACA that call New Jersey home. They have attended our public schools, graduated high school and many have enrolled in our public colleges. And many are our coworkers, our neighbors and loved ones. They currently pay a total of $57 million to state and local […]
How the Final GOP-Trump Tax Bill Would Affect New Jersey Residents’ Federal Taxes
December 16, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The final tax bill that Republicans in Congress are poised to approve would provide most of its benefits to high-income households and foreign investors while raising taxes on many low- and middle-income Americans. The bill would go into effect in 2018 but the provisions directly affecting families and individuals would all expire after 2025, with […]
How the House and Senate Tax Bills Would Affect New Jersey Residents’ Federal Taxes
December 6, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The House passed its “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” November 16th and the Senate passed its version December 2nd. Both bills would raise taxes on many low- and middle-income families in every state and provide the wealthiest Americans and foreign investors substantial tax cuts, while adding more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit over ten years. The graph below shows that both bills are skewed to the richest 1 percent of New Jersey residents.
House Tax Plan Offers an Exceptionally Bad Deal for California, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland
November 14, 2017 • By Carl Davis
An ITEP analysis reveals that four states would see their residents pay more in aggregate federal personal income taxes under the House’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While some individual taxpayers in every state would face a tax increase, only California, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey would see such large increases that their residents’ overall personal income tax payments rise when compared to current law.
How the Revised Senate Tax Bill Would Affect New Jersey Residents’ Federal Taxes
November 14, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Senate tax bill released last week would raise taxes on some families while bestowing immense benefits on wealthy Americans and foreign investors. In New Jersey, 50 percent of the federal tax cuts would go to the richest 5 percent of residents, and 22 percent of households would face a tax increase, once the bill is fully implemented.
How the House Tax Proposal Would Affect New Jersey Residents’ Federal Taxes
November 6, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was introduced on November 2 in the House of Representatives, includes some provisions that raise taxes and some that cut taxes, so the net effect for any particular family’s federal tax bill depends on their situation. Some of the provisions that benefit the middle class — like lower tax rates, an increased standard deduction, and a $300 tax credit for each adult in a household — are designed to expire or become less generous over time. Some of the provisions that benefit the wealthy, such as the reduction and eventual repeal of the estate…
GOP-Trump Tax Framework Would Provide Richest One Percent in New Jersey with 82.4 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
October 4, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would not benefit everyone in New Jersey equally. The richest one percent of New Jersey residents would receive 82.4 percent of the tax cuts within the state under the framework in 2018. These households are projected to have an income of at least $1,105,200 next year. The framework would provide them an average tax cut of $73,950 in 2018, which would increase their income by an average of 2.3 percent.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Reforming New Jersey’s Income Tax Would Help Build Shared Prosperity
September 15, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Today, the most well-off New Jerseyans hold a greater share of the state’s income than they have in nearly a century, thanks to decades of unequal economic growth, creating an off-balance economy in which many middle- and lower-income New Jerseyans face barriers to economic opportunity. Recent tax policy changes have exacerbated this trend.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Reforming New Jersey’s Income Tax Would Help Build Shared Prosperity
September 12, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
These reforms would also make New Jersey’s tax system more equitable, but it would not undo the tax code’s upside-down nature, in which low-income and middle-class New Jerseyans pay greater shares of their incomes to state and local taxes than wealthy residents. With these changes, this inequity would be slightly evened out. The share paid by the top 1 percent would rise to 7.7 percent from 7.1 percent, but that would still be lower than any other group of New Jersey families.
In New Jersey 57.2 Percent of Trump’s Proposed Tax Cuts Go to People Making More than $1 Million
August 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A tiny fraction of the New Jersey population (1.2 percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But this elite group would receive 57.2 percent of the tax cuts that go to New Jersey residents under the tax proposals from the Trump administration. A much larger group, 37.4 percent of the state, earns less than $45,000, but would receive just 3.7 percent of the tax cuts.
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: Trump Tax Plan: A Boon for the Wealthiest New Jerseyans
July 21, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A federal tax package based on President Trump’s April outline would fail to deliver on its promise of mostly helping the middle class, instead showering most of its help to the richest 1 percent, according to a new 50-state analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released today.
Trump Tax Proposals Would Provide Richest One Percent in New Jersey with 54.7 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
July 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Earlier this year, the Trump administration released some broadly outlined proposals to overhaul the federal tax code. Households in New Jersey would not benefit equally from these proposals. The richest one percent of the state’s taxpayers are projected to make an average income of $3,101,200 in 2018. They would receive 54.7 percent of the tax cuts that go to New Jersey’s residents and would enjoy an average cut of $130,440 in 2018 alone.
State Rundown 7/11: Some Legislatures Get Long Holiday Weekends, Others Work Overtime
July 11, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Illinois and New Jersey made national news earlier this month after resolving their contentious budget stalemates. But they weren’t the only states working through (and in some cases after) the holiday weekend to resolve budget issues.
State Rundown 6/28: States Scramble to Finish Budgets Before July Deadlines
June 28, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, several states attempt to wrap up their budget debates before new fiscal years (and holiday vacations) begin in July. Lawmakers reached at least short-term agreement on budgets in Alaska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, but such resolution remains elusive in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.
State Rundown 5/31: Budget Woes Spurring Special Legislative Sessions
May 31, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, special legislative sessions featuring tax and budget debates are underway or in the works in Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico, and West Virginia, as lawmakers are also running up against regular session deadlines in Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Meanwhile, a legislative study in Wyoming and an independent analysis in New Jersey are both calling for tax increases to overcome budget shortfalls.
State Rundown 5/18: Tax Debate Heat Wave Hitting States
May 18, 2017 • By Meg Wiehe
This week saw tax debates heat up in many states. Late-session discovered revenue shortfalls, for example, are creating friction in Delaware, New Jersey, and Oklahoma, while special sessions featuring tax debates continue in Louisiana, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Meanwhile the effort to revive Alaska's personal income tax has cooled off.
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: DACA-Eligible New Jerseyans Pay $66 Million a Year in Taxes
April 25, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
New Jersey’s young immigrants eligible for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) contribute $66 million in state and local taxes each year, the seventh highest level of all the states. And those annual contributions would increase by $27 million – the sixth most of all states – under comprehensive immigration reform.
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: Undocumented Residents Pay $587 Million a Year in NJ Taxes
April 3, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
New Jersey’s undocumented immigrants contribute $587 million in state and local taxes, the sixth highest level of all the states. And those contributions would increase by $73 million – the eighth most of all states – under comprehensive immigration reform. These are the key Garden State findings in a new 50-state study released today by […]
Star Ledger: Will Trump deport N.J. unauthorized immigrants in college under Christie ‘Dream Act’?
January 23, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
“A 2015 analysis by non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that New Jersey has an estimated 528,000 unauthorized immigrants, and their average family income was just $34,500.” Read more
