New Jersey will expand its planned property-tax relief program, providing more than $2 billion to more than 2 million households, Governor Phil Murphy said.
Residents with income of as much as $250,000 will be eligible, Murphy said Wednesday at a press conference in South Brunswick, New Jersey. Homeowners will get as much as $1,500, while renters will get as much as $450, he said.
Murphy was joined at the press conference by the leaders of the state Assembly and Senate. Democrats control the governor’s office and both legislative houses. The governor and lawmakers have been negotiating how to spend $10.7 billion of surprise tax collections ahead of a July 1 deadline for the state’s annual budget.
“State revenues have put us in a very strong fiscal position,” Murphy said. “Today we are providing truly historic tax relief.”
The budget proposed by the second-term governor earlier this year called for $900 million of relief for 1.8 million people, with rebates of $700 for homeowners and $250 for renters.
New Jersey residents pay the highest property taxes in the U.S. The average bill was $9,284 in 2021.
Senate Republicans, with their own plan to give $1,000 rebates to 4 million households, criticized the legislature for not moving their proposal out of committee. On Thursday, they said in a news release, they will move for a direct vote on the Senate floor.
“Why would any Democrat oppose giving their constituents $1,000 rebates as we’ve proposed in this difficult time?” Senator Declan O’Scanlon, the Republican budget officer, said in the statement.
