This week at progressive state blogs: Walkout students call out politicians; deadly detention
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This week at progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Here is the March 10 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endThis week at progressive state blogs: Walkout students call out politicians; deadly detention
This week at progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Here is the March 10 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or endorsement of—its contents. At Blue Jersey, Bill Orr writes—Gov. Murphy’s Budget. Part VI: What he told us: March roared in like a polar bear, but Governor Murphy added some heat on Tuesday to the political arena. Some of this was because he did not endorse Sen. President Sweeney’s alternate plan to raise new revenue by taxing corporations. Instead Murphy stuck with his original plan to raise monies through a millionaire’s tax. This was one of the few opportunities where Sweeney did not clap his hands. There may be blood on the floor before this issue is resolved. Murphy began his speech saying, “Eight weeks ago today, I pledged to be a different type of governor. I pledged to create a stronger and fairer New Jersey that measured success not by what we could do for the few, but by what we could accomplish for all nine million of our residents. I invited you to join me in this journey. As promised, this is a budget that is balanced both fiscally and morally. This budget totals $37.4 billion. It makes the critical investments we need for our future.” REVENUE Millionaire’s tax: asking those with taxable incomes in excess of $1 million to pay a little more. This will raise approximately $765 million. Carried-interest: we will work to close this unfair loophole that benefits only billionaire hedge fund managers. It. will generate $100 million. Sales tax: Increasing the tax back to 7%. The impact of the three-eighths of one percent sales tax decrease has been nearly imperceptible to the average family, EXPENSE Community colleges: We will increase investment by $50 million to help 15,000 students from low-income families attend for free, beginning in the spring 2019. [...] NJ Transit: nearly triple funding, an additional $242 million investment, but fixing it will not happen overnight. Read more