New Jersey Town Face Tax Vacuum Minus Drugmakers; Muni Credit
Four northern New Jersey towns face the loss of $29 million of combined revenue as some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies depart, complicating Republican Governor Chris Christie’s drive to boost business and cut the highest U.S. property taxes.
Merck & Co. (MRK), the second-biggest U.S. drugmaker by sales, is shutting its headquarters in Readington and a complex in Summit as part of a 16,000-job reduction. Roche Holding AG, the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs, by year-end is closing its campus spanning the municipalities of Nutley and Clifton. The latter has seen the extra yield investors demand on some of its debt almost double in the past six weeks.
Nearly half of New Jersey’s life-sciences jobs are in its northern region. Summit and Readington, which are 16 miles (26 kilometers) and 50 miles, respectively, west of New York, both count Merck as their largest taxpayer. Roche is the biggest in Nutley, 8 miles from Manhattan. The closings are a credit negative for the localities, with pressure on taxes and revenues, Moody’s Investors Service said in an Oct. 10 report. (Young and Kaske/Bloomberg)
