NJBIA supported the following bills, which were both approved by the full Senate on Monday:
NJ-PA Income Tax Reciprocity Agreement
The Senate voted to protect New Jersey’s bi-state agreement with Pennsylvania that allows taxpayers to pay income taxes in the state where they live rather than where they work. S-878 (Madden, D-4); Sweeney, D-3) would prevent the NJ Division of Taxation from unilaterally withdrawing from these pacts without legislative approval.
Currently, the division has broad powers to enter into and terminate reciprocal personal income tax agreements, which came to light in 2016 when former Gov. Chris Christie announced that he would terminate the agreement between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He eventually withdrew the proposal.
Approximately 125,000 New Jersey residents commute to Pennsylvania and another 125,000 make the reverse trip, according to Census Bureau estimates. Pennsylvania has a flat 3.07 percent income-tax rate while New Jersey has a more progressive tax structure with rates from 1.4 percent to 8.97 percent.
Urban Enterprise Zone Designations
The former Urban Enterprise Zones (UEZs) in Bridgeton, Camden, Newark, Plainfield and Trenton would get new life under S-846 (Turner, D-15; Cruz-Perez, D-5). The bill would reinstate the designations that expired at the end of 2016.
The UEZ Program provides incentives to encourage businesses to locate to urban areas and create private sector jobs. Under the bill, the UEZ designations of these five cities would be reestablished until September 30, 2019. The bill would also require the UEZ Authority to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the program and to issue a report on its findings on or before the date the Governor’s annual budget message is presented to the Legislature in February 2019.
For a copy of our testimony, please click here.
