Murphy adds three votes for millionaire’s tax

Gov. Phil Murphy today picked up three more votes in the legislature in his bid to pass a millionaire’s tax, with State Sen. Brian Stack (D-Union City), Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D-Jersey City) and Annette Chaparro (D-Hoboken) announcing their support of the measure.

“We respect our legislative leaders and the process through which they will evaluate our options for a balanced budget,” the three Hudson County Democrats said.  “In that process, we are supportive of Governor Murphy’s proposal for a millionaire’s tax in this year’s budget, and we thank him for his commitment to working families in New Jersey.”

Murphy now has four committed yes votes in the Senate for a plan to tax income of New Jersey households with over $1 million in annual income, but is still seventeen votes short of the number needed for the Senate to pass the measure.

Legislative observers believe two more senators – Nicholas Sacco (D-North Bergen) and Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon) – are close to coming on board.  Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence), Ronald Rice (D-Newark) and former Gov. Richard Codey (D-Roseland) are already there.

In the Assembly, Murphy has nine votes in support of the millionaire’s tax and still need 32 more to pass the measure.

Sources say as many as five more member of the Assembly are in range of moving into the yes column.

Already on record supporting the tax: John McKeon (D-West Orange), Mila Jasey (D-South Orange), Ralph Caputo (D-Nutley), Britnee Timberlake (D-East Orange), Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson), Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Assembly Majority Conference Leader Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson).