As I Suspected: On-Line Retail Sales Tax Won't Be Enough For New Jersey -- Nothing About The Bakken -- July 21, 2018

Yesterday I wrote:

New Jersey: on July 1, 2018 -- less than three weeks ago -- it was reported that New Jersey was going to rely on internet "on-line" sales tax to make up a huge budget deficit. Hold that thought. LOL. 

Under the agreement, New Jersey’s top income-tax rate will increase to 10.75% on filers earning $5 million and above, up from 8.97%. The tax is expected to raise an additional $280 million a year in revenue, Mr. Murphy said.

The governor and lawmakers also agreed to a four-year surcharge on businesses earning more than $1 million. These companies would see their income-tax rate increase to 11.5% from 9% for the next two years, before lowering to 10.5% in the two years after that, Mr. Murphy said. The surcharge is expected to raise $425 million for the fiscal year that begins Sunday.

The deal doesn’t include a sales-tax increase, which Mr. Murphy had said was necessary—along with a millionaire’s tax—to establish “sustainable, recurring” revenue streams for the state budget. On Saturday, Mr. Murphy said the sales-tax increase was no longer needed due to a June decision by the Supreme Court allowing states to tax online sales, along with the recent repatriation of money from overseas.

The big on-line retailers -- Amazon, Walmart, Target -- already charge sales tax.  I doubt the recent court ruling making on-line sales tax mandatory will result in a huge change in state revenues. But some states, like New Jersey, are counting on that sales tax revenue to balance the state budget.

My hunch: those in the know in New Jersey know what I suspect.

More evidence? New Jersey is still looking for more revenue wherever they can find it.

Most recent? Some in New Jersey are suggesting taxing tap water.

The proposal is being floated by State Sen. Bob Smith D-Middlesex, who is trying to say it's not actually a tax but a 'user fee'.

"It is a user fee based on volume," Smith told Fox 5's Chasing New Jersey.It would add 10 cents for every 1,000 gallons of water a home uses. Smith says that will only add $32 a year to the "average" water bill.

But doesn't the state already have a "water fee"? Yes.

The state already charges a public utility franchise tax on water system operators of $0.01 per 1,000 gallons of water delivered to a consumer.

That tax, which went into effect in 1984, is supposed to "ensure clean drinking water in New Jersey."

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Oh, by the way, with regard to the trade war, no one has been able to answer these two questions for me: what is the reason for tariffs in the first place, and do we even need them any more? This is the 21st century, not the 19th or 20th. A lot has changed. I notice China and the EU are not putting tariffs on US crude oil. At least as far as I know.