TRENTON, N.J., June 22 (UPI) -- The New Jersey legislature has approved a "millionaire's tax" expected to increase state revenues by $800 million in the next year.
People in households making more than $500,000 a year -- about 28,500 households in New Jersey -- will see their state income tax rate increase from 6.37 percent to 8.97 percent as the result of a bill passed Monday by both houses of the Legislature. Gov. James McGreevey is expected to sign the measure into law and the tax would be retroactive to Jan. 1.
The increase is the first income tax boost in the state since 1990 and was passed to offset property tax relief for households earning less than $200,000 a year. Some 1.8 million households are in that category.
The new rate gives New Jersey the fifth-highest top income tax bracket in the nation behind Vermont, California, Oregon and Iowa, the New York Times reported.
