Assembly Majority Conference Leader Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson) has endorsed Gov. Murphy’s proposed millionaire’s tax, becoming the first member of the Assembly Democratic leadership to publicly support the plan.
“The hard part for me is the disparity in the wealth gap in New Jersey,” Sumter said during an appearance on State of Public Affairs with Steve Adubato. “The poverty rates have increased, and the wealth gap has increased so you have folks who are in that middle class which is shrinking who can’t give any more. You can’t get blood from a stone.”
Sumter, who represents a solidly Democratic, urban district in Passaic County, says she thinks it’s fair to look at the approximately 18,000 New Jersey households with incomes of more than $1 million annually.
“They have options,” Sumter said. “A lot of folks here in New Jersey don’t have options. New Jersey is home.”
Sumter’s support is not surprising; she is a political ally of Democratic State Chairman John Currie, a Murphy supporter.
