Gov. Phil Murphy said he’ll sign a $32.7 billion spending plan that the Assembly and Senate will take up for a vote Thursday morning.

The budget proposal includes $4.5 billion of debt, without voter approval, and a millionaire’s tax that would increase the income tax rate from 8.97 percent to 10.75 percent on anything earned above $1 million.

It includes a four-year extension to the 2.5 percent corporate business surtax that is tacked onto the 9 percent levied on the state’s highest-earning businesses, rather than letting the CBT sunset to 1.5 percent for two years before expiring. And, an increase to the annual assessment on HMO premiums from 3 percent to 5 percent.

“All-in-all, I am proud of the budget that we have agreed upon,” Murphy said at his Wednesday afternoon COVID-19 press briefing in Trenton. “[T]his budget lives up to our most-important objective – preparing our state for a stronger, fairer, and more resilient future.”

The budget proposal was approved by both the Assembly and Senate budget committees on Tuesday. It is now scheduled for full floor votes on Thursday in the Senate at 9:30 a.m. and in the Assembly at 10:30 a.m.

“I look forward to tomorrow’s votes and to signing this new budget into effect,” the governor added.

Murphy has until Sept. 30 to enact this new budget, which covers expenses between Oct. 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, after the existing 2020 spending plan was extended by three months over the summer.

The legislative budget takes out many of the tax increases that Murphy sought in his own plan, such as those on cigarettes, guns and ammunition, and yacht sales; opioids; bear hunting permits; and limousine services.

Despite the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought on the state’s finances, both the governor’s office and legislative leadership are proposing record-high levels of spending for the 12 months that would typically make up the 2021 fiscal year: $40 billion from the administration and $40.3 billion from the Legislature.

Republicans in turn accused Democrats of stuffing the budget with pork, which they argued was inappropriate given the current economic conditions.

“It is filled with pork when we’re pleading that ‘Oh, we have virtually no money. We’re going broke,” Sen. Samuel Thomson, R-12th District, said before casting his vote on Tuesday.

But Senate Budget Chair Paul Sarlo, D-36th District, maintained that many of the revenues are there to “ensure the government can continue if there’s a second wave, if the economy doesn’t rebound as quickly as [we] are hopeful it will.”

The proposal calls for a $2.5 billion surplus, and $4.7 billion of pension payments.

Sarlo acknowledged that ultimately, lawmakers want to spend more than what Murphy proposed, but ensured that fiscal reforms to cut unnecessary expenses will be forthcoming in the months ahead.

He argued on Tuesday that borrowing would be better than the tax increases Murphy initially wanted, because should the federal government come through on state aid via a new iteration of a COVID-relief bill, then “any federal dollars that will come in will offset” the new debt.

Murphy, when asked Wednesday about the added half a billion dollars in debt, agreed with Sarlo, arguing that federal aid could be used to pay it down.

Republican lawmakers questioned why both the tax increases and new debt were necessary, arguing that the latter would negate the need for the former. And they questioned the necessity of a $500 rebate for hundreds of thousands of New Jersey families, included as part of a deal for the millionaire’s tax, arguing that it was an election gimmick for when Murphy seeks to keep his seat next year.

“We heard how this tax increase was essential to avoid a meltdown in our budget and total budgetary destruction,” Sen. Steven Oroho, R-24th District, said during the Senate budget hearing on Tuesday afternoon. “Now 10 minutes later we just give this away” with the rebate.