Is New Jersey really a Progressive (politically) state?
From Vox, “The crux of the disagreement has been that Murphy wanted to raise more taxes, while powerful Democrats in the legislature prefer spending cuts instead.
For instance, Murphy promised a millionaire’s tax (specifically, raising taxes on income over $1 million a year) during his campaign, and tried to pressure the legislature to make it happen. But Democratic leaders refused, instead saying they’d only raise taxes on income over $5 million a year (a measure that affected very few people and raised far less revenue). A tense showdown ensued — and the legislature won.
Murphy also wanted to reverse one of Christie’s sales tax cuts, of about one-third of a percentage point. But the legislature prevented that too. And Sweeney has laid down his marker that when it comes to the state’s serious budgetary issues involving public employee pensions and health benefits, the solution will be spending cuts — not more tax hikes.
“From the legislature, there’s been a lot of focus on cutting spending. They said next year we’re not gonna raise taxes,” says McKoy. “But we just came out of eight years cutting every tax you could cut.” And Christie, he continues, “left few stones unturned” when it came to cutting spending.
“There’s a conservative, old-school element within our legislature,” the Murphy aide says.”
What happened and is happening is that Governor Murphy is a way left Progressive, while most of those in control of the Democratic Party are much more conservative. This is especially true when it comes to the economics of how the state taxes and spends the monies it collects from the taxpayers.
Governor Murphy is at logger heads with the Senate President Steve Sweeney over taxes. In fact I would characterize Sweeney as a Moderate and he thinks about how the people will react to being asked to pay even more taxes in a state where they already are just about squeezed dry.
When it comes to the Millionaire’s Tax Sweeney realizes that there is nothing to prevent those who would be paying from leaving the state and Murphy does not seem to have a real feel for what the majority of the people really want from him. The Governor thinks he has a mandate and yet so few people voted in the gubernatorial election; which Murphy thinks as a mandate is nothing more than the wishes of a small minority.
The majority of the people of the state did not come out to vote out of disgust with the previous governor, Christie, and thought so little of the election process that they just elected not to vote at all. So Murphy is working under the mistaken belief that he actually represents what the people of New Jersey want(s), when he clearly does not.
So in my opinion while many Democrats are leaning toward the Progressive banner, more are not. Most are more towards the center both fiscally and politically than Murphy. While most Republicans are Conservative and think that Murphy’s election was a fluke. Thus, I must conclude that we are not a so called Progressive state at all.
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
