New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy Spends $13,000 on Door

Phil Murphy

New Jersey is already burdened by some of the highest property taxes in the nation, with the typical household paying 8% of their income in property taxes, or $8,353. The State also charges an additional 1.4% – 8.97% income tax rate, for approximately another $4,000 paid by the median household.

That’s somehow not enough to cover even a doorway for the State’s new governor, Phil Murphy.

According to the Daily Caller:

Murphy spent nearly $13,000 of taxpayer money for his wife to have an office nearby.

The purpose of the taxpayer fund project was to turn a conference room down the hall from the governor’s office into a private office for the first lady, New Jersey Advance Media reported. The governor and first lady have spent $27,000 of taxpayer money refurbishing their respective work spaces since taking office in January.

His wife doesn’t hold political office, by the way. Despite that, there are still signs she’s showing influence on his administration, with a number of political insiders in New Jersey referring to her as the State’s “co-governor.”

Some estimates put Phil Murphy’s net worth in the hundreds of millions, and the public disclosure of this expenditure has renewed criticism that Murphy is eager to spend taxpayer money without much care.

When Murphy was just a candidate, there was speculation he’d follow in the footsteps of another NJ Governor and fellow Democrat and Goldman Sachs executive, Jon Corzine, who opted to receive a salary of $1 a year as governor. He never even bothered to address the rumors and takes the governors salary.

Murphy’s $175,000 gubernatorial salary doesn’t even cover the property taxes on his $9.4 million home.

Murphy plans on raising New Jersey taxes by an additional $1.3 billion on aggregate.

His waste is in this category is topped by a couple other Governors in recent years. Missouri’s Lt. Gov. Mike Parson spent $54,000 on remodeling and renovations last year, and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick infamously spent $10,000 on new drapes when he first took office in 2007 amidst a $1.3 billion State budget deficit.

What’s your State wasting money on? Let us know in the comments section below! 

By Matt

Matt is the co-founder of Unbiased America and a freelance writer specializing in economics and politics. He’s been published... More about Matt

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