Grandma-Killing NJ Gov: Give Me Bailout Or I’ll Fire Cops and Firefighters
Grandma-Killing NJ Gov: Give Me Bailout Or I’ll Fire Cops and Firefighters
By Daniel Greenfield
Governor Murphy of New Jersey has two things in common with California’s Newsom.
1. Both forced nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients leading to mass deaths in nursing homes.
2. And both think that the best way to extract money for a federal bailout is to take cops and firefighters hostage
Governor Newsom was at it last week.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the federal government has a “moral obligation” to provide funding for states in its next coronavirus relief bill, noting that police officers, health care workers and firefighters will be the first ones laid off as a result of massive budget deficits.
Now here’s Murphy doing his, “Give me the cash or the cops get it” routine.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Sunday warned that key employees — including health care workers, firefighters, police officers and teachers — could be laid off if the state does not receive additional funding from the federal government.
Like Newsom and other blue state bosses, Murphy seems convinced that cops, firefighters, and health care workers are the least essential employees around.
It’s never, “If we don’t get money, we’ll have to fire tax agents, DMV employees, and the guys who helped kill thousands of nursing home residents through their public health policy”.
It’s always, “Give us money or the cops and firefighters get it.”
“We announced a budget on Friday for the next four months and we had to cut or defer over $5 billion of expenditures. And this includes potentially laying off educators, firefighters, police, EMS, health care workers. This is not abstract. This is real. It’s not a blue state issue. It’s an American issue,” Murphy said.
Yes, how can New Jersey possibly get by on such a pittance?
Gross Income Tax (GIT)
FY 2020 revenues are projected to be $910.9 million, FY 2021 collections are projected to be $3.955 billion
Sales and Use Tax
FY 2020 revenues are projected to be $1.131 billion.
FY 2021 revenues are projected to be $1.528 billion
Corporation Business Tax (CBT)
FY 2020 revenues are projected to be $451.9 million
FY 2021 revenues are projected to be $1.228 billion
New Jersey already has some of the highest property taxes in the country. The state is a bunch of suburban bedroom communities for New York City, some declining rural areas, and failed urban centers like Newark and Jersey City.
If New Jersey wants to it can, per its report, stop shoving money at peace and justice initiatives, and stop directing fortunes into the failed school systems in urban areas while taxing homeowners to the bone. Or it can borrow money to pay for all this.
But some lawmakers have expressed skepticism toward borrowing. Senate President Steve Sweeney has said he is open to the idea, but wants a shorter borrowing time frame and feels as though the administration has not been forthcoming with information about its finances, a claim that Treasury disputes.
Sweeney is also pushing for legislation that would authorize partial furloughs for tens of thousands of public employees. State and local governments could save hundreds of millions of dollars, the Senate president estimates, and workers would be made whole by generous unemployment benefits currently being offered.
Murphy has said the state needs anywhere from $20 billion to $30 billion in direct assistance during the pandemic. Murphy told reporters the figure is a “best guess” for losses between May 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, incurred by increased expenses, foregone revenues or a combination of the two.
Or maybe America should do to Murphy what he did to nursing home residents, leave him to die. Politically speaking.