a popular, practical idea to support working families • New Jersey Monitor

By Eric Benson

New Jersey’s working- and middle-class families are feeling economic crisis from all directions — high housing costs, wages that don’t keep pace with inflation, hard-to-find and expensive child care, and underfunded public transportation.

Meanwhile, the world’s richest people and companies continue to make record profits and lock up their wealth at the expense of those in trouble. Actually, it’s in New Jersey The highest-income 1% of households pay a lower tax rate than middle-class families.

We know what makes New Jersey prosperous – well-funded public schools and higher education, affordable housing for all, a healthy workforce and a world-class transportation system. However, these systems will face dramatic cuts, leaving New Jerseyans even further behind unless the state finds the revenue to maintain and expand its existing investments.

Fortunately, there is a solution to both problems: ask the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. We may We have beautiful things, and we can achieve them by financing them with taxes.

A Current report shows how the state can raise nearly $4 billion through tax changes aimed primarily at wealthy individuals and multinational corporations. Some politicians have spoken out against any tax increases, but these voices ignore the issue WHO would pay additional taxes under these proposals. These changes target high-net-worth pools, such as expensive homes, multimillion-dollar salaries, profits from offshore companies and large sums of inherited wealth – assets that are well outside the financial lives of most New Jerseyans.

Many New Jersey residents are struggling to make ends meet, looking at the cost of living in the state and wondering if they’ll ever get ahead or even stay. In order to make the state affordable, the state needs major investments – in affordable housing, childcare, education and public transport. But these programs will be unattainable without fair taxation and, in particular, ensuring that those tax dollars come from the rich.

These revenues can then be used to support the state’s existing investments, stimulate New Jersey’s economy and address the imbalance in our tax system. New Jersey’s move to reinstate its millionaires’ tax in 2020 shows that progressive tax policies can level the playing field and thereby generate significant revenue. Although the state income tax helps get more back from the wealthy, the state must go further to ensure that wealthy residents pay their fair share while working- and middle-class households can continue to afford to live in the state.

In addition to good politics, ensuring that the rich and powerful pay their fair share is also popular. Large The majority of Democrats, independent voters and Republicans believe that rich individuals and corporations pay too little in taxes and support policies so they pay more. As politicians seek popular means to fund popular government services like schools, health care and public transportation, fair taxation of the rich and mega-corporations is a win-win.

If New Jersey politicians instead adopt the self-defeating anti-tax rhetoric that has devastated state finances across the country in recent decades, the result will spell disaster for so many important programs that impact working families.

New Jersey leaders cannot afford to continue to favor the rich while ordinary families pay the price. To create a state in which everyone can prosper, bold tax reforms are essential. In particular, 2025 gubernatorial candidates have the opportunity to lead the way by advocating for fair tax policies that support families, grow the economy and promote a stronger, more equitable future.

Eric Benson is the campaign director for For the Many, a nationwide coalition of more than 40 organizations committed to expanding funding for essential services and improving budgeting practices to meet current and future needs, particularly for communities living in the past were left behind.