By Michele Siekerka, NJBIA President & CEO
It’s a tale as old as time in New Jersey.
Far too often our state is at the bottom of the list of best places to do business.
Why? Because for far too long -- for decades in fact – New Jersey has failed to provide the predictability, reliability, consistency, and certainty that our job creators need in order to invest.
We change the rules of engagement regularly in New Jersey. Be it tax rules, rules that govern how we do business, how we manage employees, how we build, how we operate.
Policy shifts that are 180°, like when the Corporation Business Tax was supposed to be sunset only to come back as a renamed Corporate Transit Fee. Add to that the Climate Superfund Act and the ABC test to determine employee status and other workplace rules.
How do we keep our job creators in New Jersey?
We need our policymakers to send a clear message now, TODAY, that we want to invest in them, their workplace, their facilities and our economy and that they matter.
But the message alone will means nothing if we don’t have actions to follow.
Immediate actions that can make a difference include stepping away today from the Climate Superfund Act, not proceeding with the codification of the ABC test and sending that whole mess of a process back to the Department of Labor for reconsideration on classification for the future -- or better yet going back to the IRS test that seemed to work fine in our state for many many years.
Send a clear message today that we have a strategy to sunset the Corporate Transit Fee 2 1/2 years from now when that date becomes certain. We can start to pull levers today to fill the gap that exists so we are prepared tomorrow.
And finally, take positive action in the budget that’s about to be passed by killing or, at best, significantly mitigating the three taxes in that budget: the net operating loss, the alternative business calculation, and the Medicaid assessment.
We need to hold the line on spending and ensure that every dollar spent is going to a sustainable and meaningful program that will create jobs and boost our economy here in the state of New Jersey.
We can send a message today that can have a ripple effect because clearly the actions of
the past few decades have caused us to see a continuing outmigration of New Jersey’s job creators to the tune of more than 7,000 lost jobs, $675 million in annual payroll, $27.3 million in annual income tax, $6.7 million in annual sales tax revenue and $20.9 million potential property tax revenue for our local communities.
It’s time to get New Jersey’s fiscal house in order. We’re calling on our policy makers to start today.
