Brian Lair on WNYC.

So I was walking down Fifth Avenue in Midtown the other day on my way to Grand Central to catch a train when I noticed the sign outside a cannabis dispensary

that said, New York City residents, 30% discount. And my immediate thought was, hmm, oh, I think I get that.

The prices are set to milk the tourists. So they phrase it as, York City residents 30% off in an area, of course,

where there are a lot of tourists, the prime midtown area. And even though that was on Fifth

Avenue in Manhattan, it made me think of New Jersey. Why? Because of this story we had on our

local news website, Gothamist, by New Jersey reporter Michael Saul Warren headline.

New Jersey lawmakers aimed to boost local sales tax by 45% for World Cup. What does that mean?

Well, with the World Cup, just two months away, lawmakers in Jersey are looking for ways to cash in on tourists attending the games.

One way to do that is through increasing sales taxes for the duration of the tournament.

Now, Trenton lawmakers are pushing to raise their local sales tax by 45% to help cover the state's costs for hosting a global event. And the state Senate

budget chair, Paul Sarlow, wants to hike sales taxes in the Middollands District from 6.6% to 9.6%

in addition to a host of other specific ones aimed at Tours. This comes in the middle of the

New Jersey budget season. Governor Sherrill's first of her tenure, they're debating it right now.

During the course of a campaign, she promised not to raise sales taxes, and Republican lawmakers

are reminding her of that promise as these proposals sit on her desk.

Does this count when it's just targeted at people coming for the World Cup?

With me now to discuss taxes, politics, and the World Cup is Michael Saul Warren,

New Jersey reporter for WNYC and Gothamist.

Hey, Michael, thanks for coming back on the show.

Hey, Brian, thanks for having me.

So what sales tax would go up by how much exactly? Yeah, you did a pretty good summary at the top

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