No.

That was the terse response from New Jersey’s most powerful state lawmaker Wednesday after Gov. Phil Murphy challenged him to let legislators vote on the governor’s plan to raise income taxes on the state’s millionaires.

“No," state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, told NJ Advance Media after an unrelated event in Jackson when asked if he’ll allow a vote on Murphy’s proposal. “I’ve said it. I don’t know how many times I can say it. We’re not changing.”

Murphy has been pushing for months for New Jersey to enact a millionaires tax to infuse the taxpayer-funded state budget with more money for education, transportation, and public-worker pensions.

But he needs the Democratic-controlled state Legislature to pass the plan. And the top lawmakers who decide which bills come up for a vote — Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex — have remained fiercely opposed to a millionaires tax. They say the upcoming budget doesn’t need the money and New Jersey is already rife with taxes.

On Tuesday, Murphy told NJ Advance Media that Sweeney and Coughlin should simply put the proposal up for a vote in the Democratic-controlled Legislature and see what happens.

“They know that I want that and I think … they know where the case is,” the governor said. “It will allow us to deliver the investments in the middle-class.”

Murphy is betting that there are many Democrats in the Legislature who would support the plan if they were pressured to do so publicly. Especially since Democrats voted five times for a millionaires tax in recent years, only to see then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, veto it each time.

Murphy also frequently cites poll numbers that show a majority of New Jerseyans support the hike.

But Sweeney insisted Wednesday there aren’t enough votes in the Legislature to pass the proposal.

“I’m not posting it to embarrass anybody,” the Senate president said. “We made it crystal clear to Governor Murphy the votes are not there. I’m just not putting it up.”

The battle over the millionaires tax is threatening to send New Jersey to a state government shutdown on July 1 for the second time in three years.

Murphy and top lawmakers have until June 30 to enact a budget.

The Legislature is planning to vote on a budget June 20. After that, Murphy can either sign it or veto it in whole or in part.

The governor has hinted he may not sign a budget without a millionaires tax. If they don’t reach a deal by the deadline, Murphy could shut down the government until an agreement is made.

A number of Democratic members of the Assembly have publicly said in recent days that while they support a millionaires tax, they would vote for a state budget without it.

All 80 seats in the Assembly are on November’s ballot. And political experts say both a vote for a tax hike or a shutdown could hurt their election chances.

Meanwhile, Sweeney is pushing his own controversial “Path to Progress” proposals to scale back public-worker pension and health benefits, which is opposed by government-employee unions and unlikely to be supported by the progressive Murphy. The Senate president said the current cost of pensions and benefits is not sustainable for the state.

Sweeney said Wednesday that when Murphy “puts up Path to Progress, then we can have a talk about taxes.”

“Until you fix those problems, I’m not raising taxes, period,” he said.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Matt Arco and Samantha Marcus contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

Michael Sol Warren may be reached at mwarren@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MSolDub. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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