Friday Facts and Figures is a brief digital newsletter focusing on data points from NJPP reports, research, and policy debates in New Jersey and beyond.
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$10,000
The Trump administration has proposed a new rule that would block New Jersey’s workaround to the $10,000 limit on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. The Treasury Department’s proposal would prevent charitable donations from being used to circumvent the deduction cap, invalidating legislation signed by Governor Murphy earlier this year. [NJ.com / Jonathan D. Salant]
54 percent
New Jersey has joined three other states in suing the Trump administration to have the SALT deduction cap declared unconstitutional. If New Jersey is successful in overturning the cap, the wealthiest one percent of families – those with annual incomes over $1.1 million – would receive 54 percent of the benefit. The bottom 80 percent of families would receive less than one percent of the benefit. [NJPP / Sheila Reynertson]
62 percent
According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, 62 percent of New Jersey voters support legalized recreational marijuana and 63 percent of voters support erasing criminal records for marijuana possession. Earlier this month, Senate President Steve Sweeney announced he has the votes to legalize recreational marijuana and expand New Jersey’s medical marijuana program by the end of September. [Quinnipiac University Poll]
$305 Million
Once fully implemented, a legal marijuana marketplace could generate $305 million per year in tax revenue for New Jersey. This projection assumes a 25-percent tax on retail marijuana sales and a three-year phase-in. [NJPP / Brandon McKoy]
90 percent
Years of neglect and disinvestment have finally caught up with NJ Transit, once the best-performing commuter rail service in the nation. Under the Christie administration, the state subsidy to NJ Transit was cut by 90 percent while fares rose by 36 percent. [Bloomberg / Elise Young and Henry Goldman]
ICYMI
In an op-ed in the Asbury Park Press, NJPP health policy director Ray Castro breaks down how New Jersey has acted tit for tat whenever the Trump administration has attempted to undermine the Affordable Care Act. [Asbury Park Press / Ray Castro]
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