NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka’s recent op-ed in ROI-NJ poses seven questions for lawmakers to ask (and answer) before voting on a proposed $1 billion transit fee that saddles the state’s largest employers with the highest corporate tax rate in the nation.
Gov. Murphy proposed a new 2.5% corporate transit fee in his proposed FY25 budget that would be imposed on top of New Jersey’s 9% Corporation Business Tax, giving the state the highest CBT rate in the U.S. by far. The Legislature faces a June 30 constitutional deadline for enacting new budget and it’s unclear whether the 2.5% corporate transit fee will be included in the new state spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
In her June 17 op-ed published in ROI-NJ, Siekerka said: “We respectfully request that (the Legislature) reflect on the following questions that represent what we have heard directly about these impacts:
- How will this tax create new jobs, when those impacted by this tax will create their next 10, 100 or 1,000 jobs outside of New Jersey in a more business tax-friendly state where they already have a physical presence?
- How does this new tax not put at risk the exact type of middle-class jobs that the affected companies create in New Jersey?
- Will a highest-in-the-nation, extreme outlier status business tax be a marketing tool to retain and attract large job creators?
- Do you believe that this tax revenue will actually make it to its intended source, New Jersey Transit, after it sits in the state’s surplus fund for a year, especially when public statements have been made about other ways to utilize this revenue?
- Where will the supply chain and local small businesses that rely on these large companies get their next contracts for services and products when our affected companies stagnate their New Jersey growth, or, worse yet, choose to relocate as their leases come due and their workforce can work remote?
- As a policymaker in New Jersey, can you truly believe that a 20% new business tax on an already-highly-burdened business community is a sound policy that will make our state economy stronger?
- Does this new tax on New Jersey’s largest employers help our affordability and competitiveness issues?”
To read Siekerka’s entire, op-ed, go here.
