NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekera told WJLP-TV this weekend that the Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed $48.9 billion budget scores points for making a full public pension system payment and other investments, but not enough tax relief is being provided to New Jersey’s small businesses.
Siekerka said an NJBIA analysis found that less than one-tenth of percent of the budget is dedicated to helping small business, which are struggling to recover losses from the pandemic while also dealing with a record increase in inflation that has caused their operating costs to skyrocket.
“We are thankful that there’s $50 million going into the Main Street Recovery program – we will take every dollar that we can get – however direct relief to New Jersey business is significantly lacking in this budget at a time when we need it,” Siekerka told Laura Jones, the host of “New Jersey Politics.”
The Murphy administration’s proposed ANCHOR property tax relief program, for example, only helps homeowners and renters – not New Jersey businesses who pay nearly 50% of the approximately $31 billion in property taxes collected throughout the state annually, Siekerka said.
New Jersey businesses are also facing $300 million in unemployment tax increases over the next three years because of the need to replenish the state’s unemployment insurance fund, which paid out record claims during the height of the pandemic. Unemployment taxes are essentially a tax on jobs at a time when many businesses are struggling to find workers, she said.
