NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka recently posed seven critical questions for lawmakers to consider before voting on a proposed $1 billion transit fee. This fee would impose the highest corporate tax rate in the nation on New Jersey's largest employers.
Governor Murphy has proposed a 2.5% corporate transit fee in his FY25 budget, which would be added to New Jersey’s existing 9% Corporation Business Tax (CBT). If implemented, this combined rate would make New Jersey's CBT the highest in the United States. The Legislature faces a June 30 constitutional deadline to enact the new budget, leaving uncertainty about whether this corporate transit fee will be included in the fiscal plan starting July 1.
In her June 17 op-ed published in ROI-NJ, Siekerka expressed concerns about the potential impacts of this tax: "We respectfully request that (the Legislature) reflect on the following questions that represent what we have heard directly about these impacts."
Siekerka outlined several key points:
"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 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.
