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Jimmy Margulies, onetime editorial cartoonist at The Record of Woodland Park, has North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un wondering about how much he can get for his nuclear missiles after President Trump's lawyer paid $130,000 to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels.
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-- HACKENSACK, N.J.
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
During his successful campaign and in his budget address on Tuesday, Governor Murphy made clear he wants to raise taxes only on New Jersey's millionaires.
But on Tuesday, he also proposed restoring the 7% state sales tax, which former Gov. Chris Christie cut to 6.625% before he signed a 23-cents-a-gallon hike in the gas tax in October 2016.
That was the first and last tax hike the GOP bully signed during his eight years in office -- starving New Jersey of revenue and prompting him to grab money from mass transit, the environment, women's health and other programs to balance his budgets.
Still, The Record of Woodland Park wasted no time trying to panic non-millionaires into thinking their taxes are going up, too.
"Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled ... $1.6 billion in new taxes that will hit the paychecks of the wealthy and retail purchases of everyone in the state," the lead paragraph of a Page 1 story declared on Wednesday.
Of course, that was a reference to the miniscule hike to restore the state sales tax to 7%, but The Record's reporters made sure to bury that on the continuation page.
Does anyone care? If you can't afford a hike of a few cents in the sales tax, then your personal finances are a disaster.
'Ambitious' agenda
The story, written by James Nash and Dustin Racioppi, called Murphy's first-year agenda "ambitious."
A preview on Tuesday's front page asked, "How is he [Murphy] going to pay for his progressive promises?"
One of the biggest mistakes Gannett editors made was assigning Racioppi to cover Murphy.
The Trenton reporter's coverage of Christie largely ignored the nearly 600 vetoes the GOP thug executed to kill bills passed by the Democratic majority in the State Legislature.
Among many other measures, they included raising the minimum wage, taxing millionaires, hiking the gas tax to fund transportation improvements, and restricting the sale of assault-style rifles.
Affects who?
Inside Wednesday's paper, a graphic showed "how Murphy's $37.4B budget could affect you."
Turns out Uber and Airbnb services would be taxed for the first time in 2019.
Big deal. Shouldn't they pay taxes, too?
Millionaires would pay a 10.75% tax on every dollar of income over $1 million, compared to an 8.97% tax on income over $500,000 now.
Long overdue, and the 1% will hardly notice it.
Murphy said NJ Transit fares won't be going up in 2019.
Three cheers.
The state's earned income tax credit program would get an additional $27 million, giving more tax relief to low- and moderate-income earners.
And the state's minimum wage would be raised to $15, starting with a jump to $11 in 2019.
Sounds like a win-win for the vast majority of New Jersey's 9 million residents.
So, why is The Record's coverage of Murphy and his proposals so negative?
Correction
A rare correction on Wednesday's 2A noted a headline on Page 1L on Tuesday was "incorrect."
"A former Hackensack police officer will receive $105,416 for unused sick pay and vacation days."
The sub-headline on Tuesday said the payout will be "105,00."
There was no correction of Tuesday's incomprehensible Page 1 headline over the fatal crash of a helicopter into the Hudson River:
During his successful campaign and in his budget address on Tuesday, Governor Murphy made clear he wants to raise taxes only on New Jersey's millionaires.
But on Tuesday, he also proposed restoring the 7% state sales tax, which former Gov. Chris Christie cut to 6.625% before he signed a 23-cents-a-gallon hike in the gas tax in October 2016.
That was the first and last tax hike the GOP bully signed during his eight years in office -- starving New Jersey of revenue and prompting him to grab money from mass transit, the environment, women's health and other programs to balance his budgets.
Still, The Record of Woodland Park wasted no time trying to panic non-millionaires into thinking their taxes are going up, too.
"Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled ... $1.6 billion in new taxes that will hit the paychecks of the wealthy and retail purchases of everyone in the state," the lead paragraph of a Page 1 story declared on Wednesday.
Of course, that was a reference to the miniscule hike to restore the state sales tax to 7%, but The Record's reporters made sure to bury that on the continuation page.
Does anyone care? If you can't afford a hike of a few cents in the sales tax, then your personal finances are a disaster.
'Ambitious' agenda
The story, written by James Nash and Dustin Racioppi, called Murphy's first-year agenda "ambitious."
A preview on Tuesday's front page asked, "How is he [Murphy] going to pay for his progressive promises?"
One of the biggest mistakes Gannett editors made was assigning Racioppi to cover Murphy.
The Trenton reporter's coverage of Christie largely ignored the nearly 600 vetoes the GOP thug executed to kill bills passed by the Democratic majority in the State Legislature.
Among many other measures, they included raising the minimum wage, taxing millionaires, hiking the gas tax to fund transportation improvements, and restricting the sale of assault-style rifles.
Affects who?
Inside Wednesday's paper, a graphic showed "how Murphy's $37.4B budget could affect you."
Turns out Uber and Airbnb services would be taxed for the first time in 2019.
Big deal. Shouldn't they pay taxes, too?
Millionaires would pay a 10.75% tax on every dollar of income over $1 million, compared to an 8.97% tax on income over $500,000 now.
Long overdue, and the 1% will hardly notice it.
Murphy said NJ Transit fares won't be going up in 2019.
Three cheers.
The state's earned income tax credit program would get an additional $27 million, giving more tax relief to low- and moderate-income earners.
And the state's minimum wage would be raised to $15, starting with a jump to $11 in 2019.
Sounds like a win-win for the vast majority of New Jersey's 9 million residents.
So, why is The Record's coverage of Murphy and his proposals so negative?
Correction
A rare correction on Wednesday's 2A noted a headline on Page 1L on Tuesday was "incorrect."
"A former Hackensack police officer will receive $105,416 for unused sick pay and vacation days."
The sub-headline on Tuesday said the payout will be "105,00."
There was no correction of Tuesday's incomprehensible Page 1 headline over the fatal crash of a helicopter into the Hudson River:
"BAG BEHIND CRASH?"
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