President Joe Biden put forward a $5.8 trillion federal budget Monday that would raise taxes on the wealthy and increase spending for both defense and domestic programs. On the domestic front, the president proposes more funding for affordable housing, manufacturing investments and anti-gun-violence programs, including money for communities to hire more police officers. The budget increases defense spending and allocates funds specifically to counter Russia’s war against Ukraine. Taxes would increase for households worth more than $100 million and the top individual income tax rate would increase to 39.6% from 37%. The president also wants to increase the corporate tax rate. It’s now up to Congress to debate the proposal.
In New Jersey, the state Senate will hold a hearing Tuesday on Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed state budget. NJ Spotlight News obtained additional information on the budget through a public records request. Budget and Finance writer John Reitmeyer was looking into how much of the budget relies on non-recurring, or one-shot, revenue sources for spending. The documents he obtained indicate some $2.5 billion in revenue would continue to come from non-recurring sources. For additional details on this, check out John’s story here.
New Jersey’s ban on plastic bags goes into effect in early May, but food banks won’t have to worry about that right away. Gov. Murphy has signed a bill giving them a six-month extension to comply with the ban on single-use bags. The state is also directed to spend $600,000 to provide charity organizations with 500,000 free reusable carry-out bags.
Trenton Mercer Airport has been given the green light by the FAA to expand. The decision comes over the objections of some who worry about increased noise in residential areas near the airport.
