N.J. Forecasts $10.1 Billion Shortfall Through Next Fiscal Year

(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey is projecting a 7% revenue shortfall for the current year and forecasts a $10.1 billion budget gap through fiscal 2021, state Treasurer Elizabeth Muoio said.

“This decline would be worse than the Great Recession,” Muoio said in a news release. The state must borrow, make budget and appropriation adjustments, and request “more robust federal assistance,” she said.

The statement provided the most detailed picture yet of how the new coronavirus has affected finances in New Jersey, whose 9,702 deaths and 141,560 cases put it behind only New York for the worst U.S. outbreak.

Earlier Wednesday, Governor Phil Murphy disclosed that April revenue plunged 60%, to $3.5 billion, from a year ago. The state, like the federal government, pushed back its mid-April tax filing deadline three months. And Murphy said he was confident that the revenue will show up then, though he expected more filers to request extensions.

Budget revenue for the current fiscal year is expected to fall $2.75 billion short of the $36.7 billion projected. Forecast revenue of $33.8 billion for fiscal 2021 will be off by $7.34 billion, or about 18%.

“These revenue projections are based upon a wide variety of economic assumptions, including the assumption that there will not be a resurgence of Covid-19 cases later this year,” Muoio said. The projections don’t include any new taxes proposed by Murphy for 2021.

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