NJ Spotlight published the following article on 6/16/2014. To read the full article, click here.

Analysis: Millionaire’s Tax to Close Pension Gap Could Be Headed To Ballot in 2015

Mark J. Magyar | June 16, 2014

With Gov. Chris Christie vowing to veto any tax increase, Democratic legislative leaders looking for pension-funding solutions may conclude that their best option is to bypass Christie by putting a millionaire’s tax on the ballot as a constitutional amendment next year.

It is a strategy that the Democratic-controlled Legislature used successfully last year to override Christie’s opposition to hiking the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8.25, with annual increases in future years tied to the rate of inflation. The idea is now being discussed by Democratic legislative leaders as an option for the millionaire’s tax, sources confirmed.

Because Democrats do not have a two-thirds majority in the Senate and Assembly, the governor’s line-item veto power under the New Jersey Constitution gives him virtually dictatorial power over the budget — as long as the Republican Senate and Assembly minority vote to uphold his veto, as they did when Christie vetoed the millionaire’s tax in past years. But Christie has no veto power over constitutional amendments, and while it would take 17 months for the Democratic Legislature to get the millionaire’s tax on the ballot, Democratic leaders realize that it is the only step they can take without Christie’s support.

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