The FY27 budget, advanced by budget committees on Sunday, gets points for making manufacturing investments and keeping overall spending relatively flat, but the business community is disappointed that nearly all revenue raisers it contains will be borne by them.
That was the message from NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka in a statement issued on Monday morning. Siekerka said that while the efforts to find efficiencies in the budget are notable, the bottom line is that the $60.7 billion budget still raises taxes on businesses, and the budget process itself needs more transparency in the future.
“NJBIA appreciates efforts with this budget to find efficiencies and to keep spending relatively flat from last year, particularly after the massive spending increases from the previous eight years of unsustainable budgets,” Siekerka said.
“There are fewer current year add-ons this year, as well, but still too many when you consider that New Jersey is still less affordable after this budget than it was before. At the end of the day, this budget still raises taxes on business – yet again – and uses some gimmicks to pay for the new spending, which inherently means a bigger structural hole in next year’s budget.
“We are pleased to see investments in Gov. Sherrill’s Saving Time and Money Agenda, and the inclusion of NJMEP funding in the budget to help our manufacturing sector,” Siekerka said. “But the bottom line for the business community is that we are still under attack. Nearly all of the revenue-raisers in this budget are on the backs of business, despite having one of the worst business tax climates in the nation.
“We worked to mitigate the temporary Net Operating Loss limit and the Alternative Business Calculation Deduction,” Siekerka said. “And while compromises were made on the per-employee fee on businesses with more than 50 employees using Medicaid, many of our job creators will be penalized for something which they have little to no control over. And, yes, workers on Medicaid will still be impacted.”
The budget bills, S-2027/A-2027, were introduced on Sunday, June 28 and advanced by the budget committees on the same night to get it in place for a vote by the full Legislature on Tuesday, June 30 – the last possible date for a vote under a constitutional deadline.
“We cannot continue to find ourselves in the dark until the last minute, so we can understand what’s included and what’s not and what the impact on our taxpayers will be,” Siekerka said. “We continue to call for better transparency as we proceed forward.”
Go here to read Siekerka’s entire statement on the budget.
