NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka has expressed gratitude to supporters of NJBIA’s ‘Do Better for Business’ campaign. The initiative, launched earlier this year, aimed to oppose Governor Phil Murphy’s $1 billion tax on New Jersey’s largest employers.
“While we were not able to successfully stop what we maintain is a very unfair tax that will have negative reverberations for years to come, it was clear from the strong support and understanding we received from policymakers, the business community and the general population, that we had great strength in numbers,” Siekerka said.
“These efforts did yield movement from a permanent tax to a 5-year temporary tax, at least slightly softening the overall blow caused by this increase on our largest job creators. We can only hope that this money that has now been captured goes to its intended purpose, and we will be watching closely to make sure it does.
“We are greatly appreciative of the support we received and will continue to build off it. We can and must unite to channel support of good business policy and opposition to bad business policy, in order to further strengthen the voice of business and improve our overall business climate,” Siekerka added.
The ‘Do Better for Business’ campaign achieved several milestones:
- Over 4.83 million impressions through media buys in top outlets such as Insider NJ, NJ.com, New Jersey Globe, ROI-NJ, Townsquare Media, New Jersey Business Magazine, and New Jersey Business Today.
- More than 1,100 letters opposing the tax sent to legislators.
- A letter from the New Jersey Business Coalition comprising over 100 business groups sent to lawmakers opposing the tax.
- Over 40 Government Affairs meetings with lawmakers/staff informing them about the tax and warning of its impacts.
- More than 300 earned media hits regarding the campaign and the business tax.
- Op-eds published in ROI-NJ, New Jersey Globe, and NJ.com.
- An NJBIA press conference with business leaders discussing ripple impacts of the tax.
- Production of Minding Your Business TV show featuring New Jersey’s top business leaders warning about the dangers of the tax.
- More than 60 stories relating to the campaign and the business tax published in New Jersey Business Today/Cap Memo.
- Nine explainer videos produced and distributed on social media detailing issues with the tax and other anti-business policies in New Jersey.
- Release of an infographic listing 40 reasons why the $1 billion tax is detrimental for businesses.
