New Jersey
A closer look at what's in New Jersey's proposed $56.6 billion budget, from taxes to spending
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey lawmakers are poised to send a $56.6 billion fiscal year 2025 budget to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy this week, hiking taxes on high-earning businesses and funding for many state services and programs.
The annual spending plan is expected to get enough votes in the Democrat-led Legislature on Friday to reach Murphy’s desk. The state constitution requires a balanced budget to be enacted by July 1.
Here’s a closer look at what’s in the budget, which would spend 4.2% more than the plan Murphy signed last year.
ARE THERE ANY NEW TAXES?
Yes. The budget calls for increasing the state’s corporation business tax on companies that make more than $10 million a year. The current 9% rate would climb to 11.5%. Business groups say that would give New Jersey the nation’s highest tax rate and punish the state’s best corporate citizens.
WHY ARE TAXES GOING UP?
The higher rate was first proposed by Murphy as part of his budget proposal early this year to help New Jersey Transit. He’s billing the levy as a corporate transit fee to help the beleaguered agency, which has regularly had to use capital funds to help finance projects.
Critics note that the revenue won’t go to transit until next year. The current budget keeps it in the general fund, so when the money goes to transit next year, whatever is being paid for now out of the general would need to be replenished or cut, those critics say.
ARE THERE OTHER TAX CHANGES?
Yes. The budget calls for ending a sales tax holiday on school supplies that had gone into effect around the start of the academic year. That cut was first introduced in 2022 when the Democrats who control state government aimed to show voters they were making the state more affordable. Lawmakers didn’t explain this cut when they unveiled the budget Wednesday, but the additional revenue could help balance the budget.
WHAT ABOUT PROPERTY TAXES?
New Jersey has among the nation’s highest property taxes, levied by local governments to finance services and schools. The state dedicates some income tax revenue to fund local governments, which helps keep property tax rates from growing even higher. This budget calls for increasing state K-12 funding to fully implement an aid formula ratified by the state Supreme Court, raising such aid to more than $11 billion, up nearly $1 billion from the current fiscal year. The budget also has about $2.5 billion for direct property tax relief, continuing programs introduced in 2022 and 2023 to help residents, renters and seniors. The average property tax amount in 2022, which is the most recently available information, is about $9,500, according to the state.
WHAT ELSE IS IN THE BUDGET?
Quite a bit, given it funds all aspects of state government, from the executive departments to public colleges and universities, to the Legislature itself, which this year passed a 67% pay raise for lawmakers, their first since 2002, which goes into effect in 2026. Overall, spending is up just over 4% compared with the current fiscal year budget.
It includes a number of expenditures — sometimes referred to as Christmas tree line items because they’re viewed as gifts for specific constituencies. They include funding for ending homelessness, helping people re-enter society from prison, fire departments, arts programs and one city’s effort to teach life skills through tennis.
Republican lawmakers said they barely had time to review the budget and lamented that they weren’t sure what all was in it. Even Democratic Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo said the document is too vast to read line by line, but he supports it overall.
“I could not take a test and be quizzed on every line item because it would take hours and hours and days and months,” Sarlo said. “I try to look at it in totality and that’s where I think we’re at.”
New Jersey
Today in History: July 12, riot erupts in New Jersey over police beating of Black taxi driver
Today is Sunday, July 12, the 193rd day of 2026. There are 172 days left in the year.
Today in History:
On July 12, 1967, rioting erupted in Newark, New Jersey, over the police beating of a Black taxi driver; 26 people were killed in the five days of violence that followed.
Also on this date:
In 1543, England’s King Henry VIII married his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.
In 1812, U.S. forces led by Gen. William Hull entered Canada during the War of 1812 against Britain. (Hull retreated shortly thereafter to Detroit.)
In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor.
In 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submitted it to the states. (It was declared ratified in February 1913.)
In 1962, the Rolling Stones played their first show, at the Marquee Club in London.
In 1979, as an angry reaction to the popularity of disco music, the Chicago White Sox held the “Disco Demolition Night” promotion, in which a crate of disco records was blown up on the field between games of a doubleheader; the ensuing riot and damage to the field caused the White Sox to forfeit the second game.
In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced his choice of U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.
In 1991, Japanese professor Hitoshi Igarashi, who had translated Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” was found stabbed to death, nine days after the novel’s Italian translator was attacked in Milan.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton, visiting Germany, went to the eastern sector of Berlin, the first U.S. president to do so since Harry Truman.
In 2003, the USS Ronald Reagan, the first aircraft carrier named for a living president, was commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 2012, a scathing report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said the late Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials had buried child sexual abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than a decade earlier to avoid bad publicity.
In 2022, Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company after Musk said he was backing off his agreement to buy the company. (He would eventually become Twitter’s owner three months later.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- Writer Delia Ephron is 82.
- Singer Walter Egan is 78.
- Writer-producer Brian Grazer is 75.
- Actor Cheryl Ladd is 75.
- Gospel singer Ricky McKinnie (The Blind Boys of Alabama) is 74.
- Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 70.
- Actor Mel Harris is 70.
- Boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez is 64.
- Rock singer Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms) is 61.
- Actor Lisa Nicole Carson is 57.
- Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is 55.
- Actor Anna Friel is 50.
- R&B singer Tracie Spencer is 50.
- Actor Topher Grace is 48.
- Actor Michelle Rodriguez is 48.
- Country singer-musician Kimberly Perry (The Band Perry) is 43.
- Actor Natalie Martinez is 42.
- Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones is 38.
- Actor Rachel Brosnahan is 36.
- Olympic gold medal gymnast Jordyn Wieber is 31.
- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai is 29.
- NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 28.
New Jersey
Ex-NJ GOP aide accused of staging slashing attack shows off horrific scars — and mystery man — in new snap
The unhinged ex-GOP aide who claimed she had been viciously attacked and labeled “Trump whore” — but who authorities say staged the assault and hired a fetish artist to carve her up — showed off her jaw-dropping scars in a new photo, along with a heavily-tattooed mystery man.
Natalie Greene, the Ocean City, NJ woman accused of faking a gruesome politically-driven assault while working for Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, shared a glimpse into her life for the first time since the scandal broke nearly a year ago.
The 26-year-old updated her Facebook profile picture on the Fourth of July to a smiling selfie of herself and the new pal.
She wore a knitted tank top – exposing multiple thick, pink scars across her shoulder, chest and neck.
Her dark hair was slicked back into a low ponytail, and her manicured hand covered her mouth as she laughed.
A man wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap with tattoos up his neck and arm smiled next to her.
Greene, a Masarati-driving ex-Rutgers Law student, was charged with conspiracy to falsely report a violent attack and giving false statements to law enforcement after claiming she was repeatedly slashed by three masked gunmen in a local park because she worked for Van Drew, a pol who had switched from Democrat to Republican in 2020.
Authorities found Greene on the ground with her hands and ankles zip-tied on a trail at a nature preserve in Egg Harbor Township on the night of July 23, 2025. She had dozens of bloody surgical-like slashes across her back, shoulder, chest and face. The words “Trump whore” were written across her stomach in black marker.
But the attack was nothing but a hoax, according to the Department of Justice, which said Greene hired a Pennsylvania-based “scarification” fetish artist to cut her up. Detectives even discovered a reference photo that Greene showed the artist – and her cuts matched the image exactly, investigators said.
Greene was granted supervised release in January as she awaits trial.
Childhood campmate Kristin Haughton James — who was previously busted for cocaine possession and riding an unlicensed vehicle in the streets, a Camden court heard in January — welcomed her into her Florida home and has been acting as her custodian.
Before moving in with Haughton James, Greene had already cycled through two other guardians – including her mother – and had been ordered to attend inpatient treatment.
But the arraignment quickly descended into a nightmare, Haughton James revealed.
“I have never met chaos incarnate until I met this person,” she told NJ.com. “Lives for the drama – wants everything to be about her.
“She just feeds off attention.”
She claimed Greene left her home a wreck, tried to get her evicted and falsely told cops that she was dealing drugs and threatened her with a gun.
Haughton James said she kicked her out in March. It is unclear where Greene is currently living.
Haughton James, Greene and Greene’s attorney did not return messages seeking comment.
New Jersey
Husband of slain New Jersey mom begs for help in newly released 911 call | Fox News Video
Former homicide detective Brian Foley joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to provide analysis on Conor Hanlon’s 911 call after finding his wife, Brooke, stabbed to death.
Former homicide detective Brian Foley provides expert insights into the newly released 911 call from Conor Hanlon, whose wife, New Jersey therapist Brooke Hanlon, was found stabbed to death. Foley analyzes the husband’s emotional state and the police’s approach, noting the case’s ‘suspicious’ designation 13 minutes into the call.
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