Following a press conference on the impacts of a proposed 2.5% Corporate Transit Fee on Tuesday, there were a few reports indicating NJBIA was supporting an increase of New Jersey sales tax as a funding source for the proposed tax on business.
In statements made to the press, however, NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka was speaking of a best option of dedicating a portion of existing, organic sales tax growth without a tax increase.
The transcript of Siekerka’s words is as follows:
“But I think the best opportunity for that is our future growth, as well. You know, sales tax (revenue) increases every year by nature of inflation. Costs go up, and therefore sales tax (revenue) goes up. If you just dedicated the future funding stream of the increase in sales tax (revenue), you could find that you might have a good revenue source from there.
“You may need a little delta in between to fill a gap in the immediate, and then we can talk about what that might be. I’m sure there are some creative minds out there for that.”
While there was discussion of a previous 7% sales tax in New Jersey during the press conference, compared to the current rate of 6.625%, NJBIA did not call for a sales tax increase.
NJBIA remains in strong opposition to a new corporate business tax, which would give New Jersey’s largest employers the highest corporate taxes in the nation, by far. Additionally, as corporate tax revenues are often volatile, it is not an appropriate source from which to dedicate funding.
We do appreciate all the coverage of yesterday’s press conference as this is a very important issue for New Jersey’s job creators and our economy.