NJ lawmakers advance $36.5B budget, including business tax hike

(AP) - New Jersey's Democrat-led lawmakers advanced a $36.5 billion budget that includes boosted school aid and a hike in the state's business tax rate.
The Assembly and Senate budget committees approved the measures Tuesday, the same day Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy warned he would veto any measure that includes revenues he views as gimmicks.
The lawmakers' budget comes as a June 30 deadline for a balanced budget approaches.
The differences come down to how lawmakers and Murphy want to pay for state spending. Murphy has proposed hiking the sales tax from 6.625 percent to 7 percent and an increase in income taxes on people earning more than $1 million.
Lawmakers instead are proposing raising the state's corporate business tax and are proposing revenues gained from audits and a tax amnesty.