As Spending Grows, Budget Challenges Loom, Report Says

A bipartisan fiscal-policy group is projecting that state spending will outpace tax collections for the next several years, even with an improving revenue outlook and $1 billion from a tax hike Gov. Phil Murphy wants passed by the end of June.

The latest long-range forecast released Thursday by a group of experts assembled by the Steve Sweeney Center for Public Policy at Rowan University suggests structural gaps baked into the last few state budgets will persist through at least the middle of 2028 under New Jersey’s current tax and spending policies.