Over 400,000 low-paid workers would benefit from a ballot measure that would raise New Jersey’s minimum wage by one dollar to $8.25 per hour and index the minimum wage to rise automatically with the cost of living, according to a new report released today by New Jersey Policy Perspective. The report finds that this wage increase would generate more than $174 million in new economic growth and support the creation of the equivalent of over 1,500 new full-time jobs as businesses expand to meet increased consumer demand.

On Thursday, right-wing New Jersey activists are planning to highlight the Tax Foundation’s annual “Tax Freedom Day” report, which gives a misleading view of taxes in our state. This report misinterprets the facts about our tax system and fosters inaccurate information, while leaving out the important context of what taxes pay for.

President Obama’s proposals to expand preschool nationwide could bolster state efforts to expand preschool to many more low-income children, according to a new Issue Brief released today by New Jersey Policy Perspective. But New Jersey’s leaders don’t have to wait for the feds: They could jumpstart a stalled expansion of preschool on their own rather than considering further tax cuts this year.

One of six (581,000) New Jersey households benefited from the EITC and 466,000 from the CTC in 2010, according to a new report. Many families were helped by both programs. Combined, the credits lifted 211,000 New Jerseyans out of poverty that year, including 106,000 children.

While New Jersey will not be setting up its own state-run health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act, or one run in partnership with the federal government, it still needs to do a lot of work to ensure as many New Jerseyans without health insurance can benefit from the landmark health care reform law.

New Jersey officials have awarded over $2 billion in corporate subsidies in the past three years, according to a New Jersey Policy Perspective report released today.

New Jersey has cut funding for higher education by 27 percent since 2008 when adjusted for inflation, a decrease of more than $2,500 per student, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). These cuts have driven up tuition and student fees, undermined educational quality and made it harder for the state to attract businesses that rely on a well-educated workforce.

New Jersey is still mired in the basement with the 4th highest unemployment rate in the nation. Worse, we’re one of only two states that saw its rate increase from 2011 (from 9.4 percent to 9.5 percent). This should pour ice water on New Jersey’s leaders. The problem is not tax rates – the problem is jobs.

The report finds that in 2016, new federal dollars that will flow into New Jersey as a result of the expansion will create approximately 14,500 new jobs across all sectors of New Jersey’s economy.

His commendable decision is truly a win-win-win: it will improve the health of hundreds of thousands of struggling New Jerseyans, boost the state’s ailing economy as a result of the influx of billions of dollars in federal funds, and save the state billions of dollars over the next decade.