NJBIA is urging lawmakers today to reject more than $1.2 billion in new taxes proposed by Gov. Phil Murphy in his FY26 budget and to avoid any new spending that doesn’t clearly stimulate economic growth amid a troubling history of additional outlays and structural imbalances during the current administration.

In written testimony to the Assembly Budget Committee, NJBIA Chief Government Affairs Officer Christopher Emigholz unveiled the following key data:

• In Gov. Murphy’s seven previous budgets, there was a cumulative $5.5 billion in spending added to the final budget after his initial proposals.

• That contrasts to the eight prior budgets where cumulative final spending was $3.2 billion less than originally proposed.

• The current $1.2 billion structural deficit in the proposed FY26 budget marks the sixth time in the past seven budgets that appropriations exceeded revenues.

• The cumulative total of $7.6 billion in structural deficits in those budgets greatly contrasts with the $23 million in total revenues exceeding appropriations in the previous eight budgets.

“It is reasonable to ask what you would cut in the current budget,” Emigholz said. “But to go from $3.2 billion less spending than originally proposed over eight years to $5.5 billion more spending than proposed over seven years tells a story of unsustainable growth.”

Emigholz said the governor and Legislature “deserve significant credit” for a fifth straight full pension payment and a full school aid payment, and those increased payments “account for a significant part of recent years’ budget growth.”

“These full funding levels, after too many years of underfunding, is on top of building up a healthy surplus,” Emigholz said. “That will lead to those defending the FY26 spending levels to push back on the perception of overspending, with even Governor Murphy asking, ‘What would you cut?’ in his budget message.

“NJBIA would ask the Governor and Legislature to do a better job of holding the line on new spending.”

Emigholz also said the $1.2 billion in new taxes proposed by Gov. Murphy for FY26 will make New Jersey “less affordable and less competitive,” and offered that the new and expanded taxes plus certain cuts in manufacturing, innovation and higher education amount to “schizophrenic budgeting” when trying to grow the state’s economy.

“It is imperative for the Legislature to maintain some of the responsible fiscal policies and pro-growth investments in what they send back to the Governor at the end of June,” Emigholz said.

To see Emigholz’s full written testimony, click here.

To see Emigholz discuss the FY26 budget on the March 15 edition of NJBIA’s Minding Your Business, click here.