This September, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy enacted a budget deal with his legislature that increased state taxes on incomes over $1 million. As the country’s second-richest state, this is a big win for progressive taxation. Governor Murphy explains what the tax revenue will go to, how it won’t hurt businesses or cause wealthy people to leave the state, and why it’s the right thing to do in the midst of a national economic crisis . 

Phil Murphy is the Governor of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 2009 to 2013.

Twitter: @PhilMurphyNJ and @GovMurphy

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Further reading: 

Deal reached in N.J. for ‘Millionaires Tax’ to address fiscal crisis: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/nyregion/nj-millionaires-tax.html

Why these millionaires are staying put despite a new tax on them: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/your-money/wealthy-millionaires-tax-states.html

Who pays? A distributional analysis of the tax systems in all 50 states: https://itep.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/whopays-ITEP-2018.pdf

Do millionaires migrate when taxes are raised? https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/media/_media/pdf/pathways/summer_2014/Pathways_Summer_2014_YoungVarner.pdf

N.J. will borrow $4.5 billion as pandemic pain hits states: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/nyregion/new-jersey-coronavirus-budget.html

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