State Senator Stephen Sweeney sent fellow legislators “some New Jersey political history to consider. Sweeney says that a 3% sales tax imposed by the Democratic Governor and Democratic Legislature in July 1966 resulted in a loss of 19 Democratic Assembly seats in November 1967, that an increase to 5% in the sales tax in March 1970 by a Republican Governor and Republican Legislature led to a loss of 20 Republican Assembly seats in November 1971, and that the 7% sales tax passed by the Democratic Governor and Democratic Legislature in July 1990 resulted in the loss of 10 State Senate seats and 22 Assembly seats for the Democrats.
