The fiscal future of New Jersey is bleak. New Jersey has struggled to balance its budget for two decades. In the early 1990s, the state was AAA by each Rating Agency. Over the last eight years, it was reduced seven times – it is now the second lowest.
Some organizations have argued for large tax increases; the business community has argued for tax cuts, even though taxes were reduced in 2016 with a negative budget impact of $1.3 billion.
Rich Keevey, a former New Jersey budget director and comptroller appointed by Republican Gov. Tom Kean and Democratic Gov. James Florio, is a senior policy fellow at the Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers University