If at first you don’t succeed, go back to the Legislature and try again.

If there was a theme to Gov. Phil Murphy’s third state budget address on Tuesday it was the Democrat yet again proposing policy the state lawmakers already shot down once. In some cases, twice.

Raise taxes on millionaires. Establish a special tax on opioid manufactures and distributors. Raise gun permit fees and bear hunting fees. Penalize companies that don’t offer their employees health insurance.

Undeterred by prior rejections from his own party, the governor came back to the podium and pitched his progressive vision with the same zeal as 2019 and 2018.

“We are making progress not despite our progressive and forward-leaning policies, but because of them. I stand here today with a vision for how our state can work for everyone, with a proposed budget built to see it to fruition, and with our progress as a prologue,” Murphy said in his speech at the Statehouse in Trenton.

Now comes the hard part.

Murphy delivered the Democratic-controlled state Legislature a $40.9 billion budget that makes installments on promises of a healthier NJ Transit, tuition-free college and fully funded public schools and public-employee pensions.

Paying for it will cost taxpayers and businesses. Murphy wants a $1.65 increase in taxes on every pack of cigarettes sold, 2 cents more on every dollar from millionaires, up to $725 per head from businesses whose workers are on Medicaid and up to $5 million from big opioid distributors.

He also wants $48 more for every handgun purchase permit, $95 more for every firearms identification card, $350 for each handgun carry permit, $450 for each retail gun dealer license and $1,350 for every wholesaler license.

Reaction Tuesday was mixed. Business lobbyists accused Murphy of overburdening taxpayers and businesses. Progressive advocates praised its support for working families or said his tax hikes should go further.

But he continues to clash with Democrats who control the Legislature over those plans to raise more revenue. Whether that that turns into another knock-down, drag-out fight a few months from now remains to be seen.

“We’re all about love,” state Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Tuesday immediately after Murphy’s address. “See my tie? I’m wearing pink. This is like a mood ring.”

TAXES

Key to Murphy’s proposed budget, like the two that came before it, is an increase in the income tax on people with income between $1 million and $5 million.

This tax alone would generate half the billion dollars in revenue from new and increased taxes and fees in Murphy’s spending plan.

The Legislature rejected the millionaires tax twice already, even though lawmakers passed it five times under former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who vetoed it.

But Murphy is already closer to getting this than at any time during his term.

Noticeably missing in the last few weeks leading up to Murphy’s budget address was any opposition messaging from Sweeney, who the last two years was adamant he wouldn’t go along. And then just days before the budget address he made Murphy a surprise offer, saying he would support the tax hike if Murphy put an extra $1 billion into the beleaguered pension system, for a total of $5.6 billion next year.

It’s an interesting offer but far from a done deal, as it would require Murphy to cut $1 billion in spending elsewhere.

A senior administration official on Tuesday called it “an important pivot from the Senate president.” But the governor still has to “make sure the math makes sense,” the official said.

The millionaires tax, an increase in the top tax rate from 8.97 percent to 10.75 percent on income between $1 million and $5 million — would generate $494 million for Murphy’s spending plan. As part of a deal struck on his first budget, income over $5 million is already taxed at 10.75 percent.

The state would get another $218 million from a big tax increase on cigarettes, which is a new proposal from Murphy.

At $2.70 a pack, New Jersey’s cigarette tax is already among the highest in the nation. At $4.35, it will be at the top with New York and Connecticut, though such cities as Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago are higher.

“The cigarette tax is a big problem,” Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said.

“I said I was open to the millionaires tax if there’s a billion dollars in new funding for the pension,” he said. “I don’t think we really need the other taxes, period.”

State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, though less colorful, signaled he isn’t on board to any across-the-board tax.

“The Assembly ... will continue to look for more government inefficiencies and cost savings, as we do each year," he said in a statement. “I remain cautious of increasing broad-based taxes.”

Those other taxes include per-head fee that businesses have to pay if their employees are on Medicaid because they don’t offer employer-sponsored health insurance.

State Treasury officials said 200,000 New Jerseyans and another 250,000 spouses and dependents tap public benefits because they can’t get insurance through their employer.

Making employers pay a portion of the state’s cost of providing health insurance is a popular progressive idea that grew out of anger at large companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon that pay low wages while workers often receive welfare, Medicaid and SNAP food assistance benefits.

Exactly how much businesses pay would depend on how many of their employees are on Medicaid, but penalties range from $325 to $725 per person.

Democratic lawmakers last year rejected a version that had lower penalties.

SCHOOL FUNDING

Murphy’s counting on the $1 billion from new and higher taxes plus growth in existing taxes to fund big increases in spending on perennial priorities, like pensions and K-12 education, and also to underwrite new ones.

The most significant new proposal would fund two years at a state college or university for students whose family income is below $65,000.

The initiative builds on his tuition-free community college program, which will get $30 million under this spending plan.

State help kicks in after students have exhausted all other aid and grants.

It was unclear Tuesday how much the state expects it to cost to send students to Rutgers or other in-state public universities. Murphy set aside $50 million in his budget.

He’s also created a $50 million pot of emergency aid for school districts that are losing money under a shakeup of the school funding formula.

The state is in the midst of a gradual redistribution of school funding from districts that are considered over funded under the school funding formula to districts considered underfunded. In the end, every district should get 100 percent of what is owed.

Districts losing cash have decried the cuts, saying they’ll be forced to cut staff and programs.

Earlier this year, he killed a bill pushed by Sweeney that would have allowed 40 of these districts to exceed a 2-percent cap on property tax hikes and raise more cash locally. The governor said asking property taxpayers to pay more wasn’t the answer.

Senior administration officials said districts can only tap the emergency funds if they can show they’re trying to wean off state aid.

At the same time, the state is putting more money into the school funding formula, as Murphy tries to make good on a promise to close a $1.1 billion funding gap.

If the Legislature goes along with his plans to increase funding by more than $300 million, he’ll have boosted funding by about $900 million over three years, Murphy said in his speech Tuesday.

The governor took great pains in his budget to frame these new dollars as property tax relief

"School funding is an investment in our future,” Murphy said. “But, just as important, school funding is property tax relief. Let’s be absolutely clear — every new dollar in school funding is a new dollar of property tax relief. Every new dollar we provide is a dollar that doesn’t have to come out of the pockets of property taxpayers.”

NJ Advance Media staff writers Matt Arco, Brent Johnson, Susan K. Livio, and Sophie Nieto-Munoz contributed to this report.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus.

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