The reason so many members of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants advise their clients to relocate their homes or businesses out of New Jersey is straightforward: It lowers their taxes. Chairman and Executive Director Ralph Thomas urges the state to finally change its burdensome policies.
Ever-increasing taxes to fund ever-increasing government spending is making New Jersey’s tax system so objectionable that his members have no choice but to advise clients to leave, Thomas says in an op-ed in today’s Asbury Park Press. He argues that New Jersey needs to reverse course if it is going to stop losing wealth and business.
“In short, New Jersey remains on a counterproductive path of spending more money than it has and relying on tax increases to make up the difference,” Thomas writes. “The changes to the income tax bracket in the proposed FY 2020 budget will further undermine the state’s ability to grow and attract businesses.”
Thomas cites the Rutgers-Eagleton poll done in collaboration with NJBIA that showed more than 80 percent of respondent feeling overburdened by taxes and dissatisfied with the way state leaders are addressing New Jersey’s affordability challenges.
Thomas adds:
“The NJCPA strongly endorsed the pension and benefit reforms spelled out by the New Jersey Economic and Fiscal Policy Workgroup in its Path to Progress report last year. These include shifting from the current defined benefit pension system to a more sustainable hybrid system that combines the best elements of both a defined benefit and defined contribution system.
“In May, the state treasurer will brief legislative budget committees on the administration’s updated revenue projections for the current fiscal year that ends June 30. Murphy had been counting on 7.7-percent revenue growth to balance the FY 2019 budget. However, through March the total growth rate of all major revenue sources has been only 4.74 percent. “
