TRENTON NJ, NFIB, the leading small business association in the nation, with thousands of members in New Jersey reacted today to Governor Phil Murphy’s statement on taxes made at a Rowan University according to a news outlet. KYW reported that the Governor said “If you’re a one-issue voter and tax rate is your issue, either a family or a business if that’s the only basis upon which you’re going to make a decision, we’re probably not your state.” NFIB’s State Director in New Jersey, Laurie Ehlbeck commented on Gov. Murphy’s statement:
“Taxes are one of the top concerns of the nearly 900,000 small businesses in the state, and it’s unbelievable that the Governor would imply with his words if that’s so, New Jersey is probably not their state. He is implying they are unwelcome if they don’t want to pay more–that is ludicrous.
“It’s becoming clear that our Governor’s goal is to spend, spend, spend, and even though legislative leaders fought him on that, he is now attacking those who pay the state’s bills, small business owners. If they take his suggestion and leave New Jersey, our state will be a very sorry place. Its already ranked among the worst for high taxes.”
Ridgewood NJ, according to the Tax Foundation the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) significantly reduced the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, making the U.S. more competitive with other developed nations.
However, it’s important for lawmakers to remember that corporate income taxes at the state level also contribute to the overall tax burden on corporate profits.
Woodridge NJ, Senator Paul Sarlo, the chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement today after the committee heard from the Office of Legislative Services and the State Treasurer on the fiscal and economic conditions that will shape the state’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget plan:
“This is a pivotal time for public finances in New Jersey, which makes our work on the state budget as important as ever. We face both immediate and long-term fiscal challenges that can no longer be ignored or deferred.
Ridgewood NJ, NJBIA President and CEO Michele N. Siekerka issued the following statement regarding the Assembly and Senate passage of the $15 minimum wage bill (A-15/ S.15) today.
“New Jersey’s small business community wrote thousands of letters to our lawmakers and testified how they will struggle, stagnate or fail when this legislation is signed by the governor. With today’s passage, the urgent concerns of this community have not been heard.
“For years, NJBIA has said any increase in the minimum wage should be done responsibly. This legislation falls woefully short of that standard, and our small businesses will bear the brunt of it. In the first year alone, they will see a 35 percent increase to their expenditures, when including increased payroll taxes as a result of the wage increase.
Parsippany NJ, Conagra Brands, the food giant that purchased Parsippany-based Pinnacle Foods for nearly $11 billion in October, is the second company in as many weeks looking for greener pastures . The company is closing a pair of Pinnacle facilities, according to a federal WARN notice — potentially costing 500 people their jobs.
Conagra, Chicago-based maker of products such as Healthy Choice and Orville Redenbacher’s, said in two separate notifications that it is closing office facilities at 399 Jefferson Road in Parsippany and 121 Woodcrest Road in Cherry Hill. The Parsippany property had served as headquarters for Pinnacle, maker of brands such as Duncan Hines, Vlasic and Birds Eye.
WARN Notice : offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the State dislocated worker unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government.
Conagra Brands, Inc. Parsippany Date 03/22/2019 layoffs 308 Conagra Brands, Inc. Cherry Hill Date 05/24/2019 layoffs 196
Trenton NJ, Senators Joe Pennacchio (R-26) and Anthony Bucco (R-25) released the following statement in regards to today’s reports that Honeywell, a Morris Plains-based company, is moving its global headquarters to North Carolina.
Sens. Joe Pennacchio and Anthony Bucco said Gov. Murphy’s bad-for-business policies are driving companies like Honeywell out of state. (Wikimedia)
Morris Plains is a municipality within Senator Pennacchio’s Legislative District.
Trenton NJ, In response to Trenton Democrats various proposals to increase taxes on New Jersey’s residents and businesses by billions of dollars this year, Senator Joe Pennacchio (R-26) issued the following statement:
In response to Trenton Democrats various proposals to increase taxes on New Jersey’s residents and businesses by billions of dollars this year, Sen. Joe Pennacchio issued the following statement. (SenateNJ)
“Recently New Jersey offered Amazon 5 billion dollars to locate its headquarters in Newark. It is difficult to believe that as New Jersey offers Amazon a 5 billion dollar incentive with one hand, it is pinching their pockets and all business pockets in New Jersey with the other hand. Perhaps they were hoping Amazon would not notice.
“This type of business incentive/non-incentive insanity simply reinforces New Jersey as the least business-friendly state in the country. The billion dollars in new employer taxes proposed will wipe out any goodwill New Jersey may have earned through corporate giveaways.
“This is not a way to attract and retain businesses in New Jersey. This is not the type of government the citizens of New Jersey deserve.”
Trenton NJ, New Jersey suffers from the worst business climate in the United States . If not for the close proximity to New York in the north and Philadelphia in the south there would be virtually no business here at all . Jobs and companies have fled the Garden State non stop since the Kean Administration and yes it can only get worse. Democratic state Senate President Stephen Sweeney said on Tuesday that state coffers can get the money they need by enacting a 3 percent surcharge on corporate income.
The increase in the state’s corporation business tax rate from 9 percent to 12 percent on businesses with more than $1 million in income is the Democrats’ latest counterpunch to federal tax reform that slashed taxes on corporations but limited the state and local taxes residents can deduct.
It seems New Jersey Democrats will not rest until the very last business has left the state .
In 2017 the Tax Foundation rated New Jersey’s Business Climate the worst in the nation. The Tax Foundation said “New Jersey, for example, is hampered by some of the highest property tax burdens in the country, is one of just two states to levy both an inheritance tax and an estate tax, and maintains some of the worst-structured individual income taxes in the country.”
In the 2017 Tax Foundation State Business Tax Climate Index , New Jersey scored and Overall Rank of 50 (Dead Last) Corporate Tax Rank 42, Individual Income Tax 48, Sales Tax 45 , Unemployment Insurance Tax 25,Property Tax Rank 50 (Dead Last again) .
So it is no surprise to everyone except New Jersey Democrats , the when moving company United Van Lines released its 36th in 2014 annual study of customer migration patterns, analyzing a total of 125,000 moves across the 48 continental states in 2012. The study provides an up-to-date, representative snapshot of overarching moving patterns in the U.S., and reveals a mass exodus from the Northeast. At No. 1, New Jersey has the highest ratio of people moving out compared to those moving in. Of the 6,300 total moves tracked in the state last year, 62% were outbound.
In 2016 the same annual moving survey from United Van Lines reveals the states where the most people move from and again for 2016, New Jersey holds the top honor in the latter category for the fifth year running.
Far be it from us to speculate, but CNN affiliate News 12 New Jersey suggests the exodus may be related to “common complaints from state residents about high property taxes, the recent gas tax hike and the poor conditions of state roads.”
Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey has long been the punching bag of state tax scholars. The state has the worst state business tax climate of the 50 states and the third highest overall state and local tax burden (behind only Connecticut and New York). Any New Jersey resident knows they pay the highest property taxes in the country, but other taxes are also high: income taxes (5th highest top rate), corporate taxes (6th highest in collections), sales taxes (16th highest in collections), cigarette taxes (10th highest), and gas taxes (8th highest) are all high, and New Jersey is currently one of two states with both an estate and an inheritance tax (the estate tax half is scheduled to be repealed in 2019, but we’ll see if the new Governor changes this). The state has more outbound net migration than any other. One bright spot: you can drink away your sorrows, with a mere 12-cent per gallon beer tax, lower than 40 other states.
The state and local tax deduction considerably reduces the sting of New Jersey’s tax bill, and it’s no coincidence that four of thirteen Republican nay votes on the House tax bill came from New Jersey representatives. New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney and newly elected Governor Phil Murphy, both Democrats, had pledged to make a higher income tax on millionaires a key early priority in 2018.
Now, however (Politico):
“We’re going to have to re-evaluate everything” if a federal bill repealing the state and local tax deduction becomes law, New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney said Wednesday in Atlantic City. Just days before, Sweeney had said he would make passage of a millionaires tax his chief priority in the new administration. “I’m just saying that what’s happening in Washington is concerning the hell out of me,” he added.
The changes to SALT are likely driving the reassessment. As ITEP, a group that promotes millionaires’ taxes, has explained, the state and local tax deduction “makes state income tax hikes a good deal,” since “income and property taxes are effectively less costly to state residents than are sales and excise taxes.” Take it away and New Jersey residents must pay full freight for their state and local governments. That may explain the seemingly contradictory rhetoric that millionaires taxes won’t affect the economy but eliminating the SALT deduction will be terrible.
If federal tax reform prompts New Jersey to overhaul its tax code, it’s long overdue. There are 244 townships, 265 boroughs, 49 cities, 15 towns, 3 villages, and 677 school districts. The three-member board running Tavistock, NJ, is a majority of the borough’s 5 inhabitants. A 1912 article recounted the history of New Jersey tax administration, which is a seemingly unending tale of bloated local government, corruption, and inequitable assessment. In the 1960s, railroad scholar George Hilton noted that the state’s practice of loading its property tax burden onto interstate commerce had ruined the viability of every railroad crossing the state. A 2003 state report dryly observed that state revenues had grown 1,700 percent since 1970, compared to population growth of 19 percent and inflation growth of 483 percent. The state adopted a sales tax in 1966 and an income tax in 1976, both with promises that they would be used to reduce crushing property tax burdens. Today New Jersey still has the nation’s highest property taxes, but with high income and sales taxes as well. It’s probably time for a rethink.
Murray Sabrin
Professor of Finance at Ramapo College
Regarding “State senate president plans to push tax bill,” (Nov. 9, page 1A). The people of New Jersey spoke loud and clear on election night. They want state government to spend more of their money. Not really their money, just upper income folks who make up a small percentage of the population. And they want Trenton to expand its already overbearing micromanagement of the economy.
Senate president Stephen Sweeney announced that he will put a “millionaire’s tax” on the front burner when the legislature convenes after Governor-elect Phil Murphy takes office in January.
Raising taxes on millionaires is another example of why government is like Willie Sutton, the notorious bank robber who was asked why he robbed banks, he replied, “That’s where the money is.” Phil Murphy and Democrats are legal versions of Willie Sutton.
Higher taxes on upper income taxpayers will cause any out of state high-income individual, business owner, or corporate executive to think twice about relocating to New Jersey. In other words, we will never how many upper income folks will not move to New Jersey because of the highest marginal taxes Murphy is so hot to increase. In addition, how many people and businesses will leave New Jersey because of higher income taxes? We will soon find out.
The proposed tax increases on millionaires will eventually hit middle-income families, because that is how big government proponents operate—tax the smallest number of families first, then go after where the big bucks are, the middle class.
As H.L. Mencken remarked decades ago, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. “
River Vale NJ, assemblywomen Holly Schepisi reiterates our thoughts on tax reform and the poor position New Jersey is in being one of the highest taxed states in the nation. ” Thinking about property taxes, New Jersey and the federal property tax deduction. New Jersey residents pretty much get hosed in every way possible when it comes to taxes. Residents in the communities I represent and the other residents of Bergen County currently pay about 30 percent of the entire NJ State Budget and receive back less than 3 percent of that money. At the federal level New Jersey only gets back 74 cents for each $1 it sends to Washington, making it the lowes…t reimbursement in the country.”
“As a result of ridiculously unfair school funding formulas, our residents pay the highest property taxes in the nation. The ONLY tax relief our residents have had is the ability to deduct our property taxes from our federal tax returns. Now the US Senate has voted to eliminate this deduction. I wholeheartedly disagree with the Senate Republicans on this issue. However I also put blame at the feet of the NJ Democrats who have controlled the New Jersey legislature for 16 years and our US Senators who have been controlled by the Democrats since 1982 (other than a short several month stint by Jeff Chiesa). How and why do we have the highest property taxes in the nation? Why do we receive the least amount of funding back from the federal government? Why won’t my Bergen County colleagues on the other side of the aisle fight alongside me for fairer funding of OUR residents? We cannot continue doing things the same way in this State. It is reaching a breaking point for our working middle class and our seniors. I hear campaign slogans about suburbs having to “pay their fair share.” We pay well beyond our “fair share” and we all must stand up together and fight back while we still can.”
District 39 – (Bergen and Passaic) Bloomingdale, Closter, Demarest, Dumont, Emerson, Harrington Park, Haworth, Hillsdale, Mahwah, Montvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan, Park Ridge, Ramsey, Ringwood, River Vale, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Wanaque, Washington (Bergen), Westwood, Woodcliff Lake .
The only way to stem our tide of outmigration is to bring our economic policies in line with our direct regional competitors — Pennsylvania and New York
September 4,2017
written by OpportunityNJ June 26, 2017
Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey has many positive attributes. We added almost 60,000 jobs in 2016, the state’s largest gain since 2000, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. We have among the best K-12 public education systems in the nation and a highly skilled workforce including the highest concentration of scientists and engineers in the world — more than 225,000 statewide.
New Jersey also has a strong transportation network. We are home to the Port of New York and New Jersey, the third largest seaport in North America and the largest and busiest maritime cargo center on the East Coast. And we are among the national leaders in logistics and distribution. New Jersey is also a great recreation state with more than 130 miles of shoreline, beautiful parks, and mountains.
Despite these great assets, New Jersey remains a significant outlier, both nationally and regionally when comparing competitiveness and affordability including our state’s high cost of living and its heavy tax burden. New Jersey’s border states, Pennsylvania and New York, continue to be the No. 1 and No. 2 outmigration states for New Jersey residents and are challenging our competitiveness.
To reverse this trend we must examine our policies on taxation, revenue generation, and spending, and we must do so through the filter of competitiveness and affordability.
Outmigration by the numbers
In February 2016, the NJBIA issued Outmigration by the Numbers: How do we Stop the Exodus? This report found that New Jersey lost $18 billion in net-adjusted gross income over a decade. We have now updated this data to include 2015 data and have learned the loss has since grown to nearly $21 billion over 11 years (2004-2005 through 2014-2015). Further, we found the largest outmigration group continues to be millennials followed second by those nearing retirement and retirees.
Last November, New Jersey took the first step in the long road toward comprehensive tax reform by phasing out the estate tax and sharply increasing the income tax exclusion for pension and retirement income. The estate tax elimination and the pension tax reduction should help stem the outmigration of seniors and small businesses. While this is a good start, there is much more that must be done.
New Jersey ranks in the bottom six of every single tax category — income, property, sales, corporate, and inheritance. And we are in the bottom 10 of all states in combined state and local debt. Further, New Jersey residents pay the fifth-highest percentage of their household income on rent of any state and pay the fourth-highest median monthly rent of any state.
New Jersey’s top income tax rate is 8.97 percent and ranks as the sixth highest in the country. Our neighbors to the north and the west offer a better income tax rate than we do, with New York’s top income tax rate at 8.82 percent and Pennsylvania’s income tax rate flat at 3.07 percent.
Out-of-control property taxes
New Jersey has an average property tax bill of $8,549 and collects $2,924 per capita in property taxes, both of which are the highest in the nation. New York at $2,435 and Pennsylvania at $1,338 per capita are considerably lower than New Jersey, as is the national per capita of $1,300.
New Jersey has the fifth-highest corporate income tax (9 percent) in the nation. New York ranks 24th, offering a lower corporate tax rate of 6.5 percent. While Pennsylvania has a higher corporate income tax rate at 9.9 percent, it has a much more favorable personal income, property, and inheritance tax climate that offsets this tax impact.
While New Jersey is in the process of eliminating the estate tax by 2018, we still have an inheritance tax. Only five other states — Nebraska, Kentucky, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Maryland — even have an inheritance tax. Further, while Pennsylvania has an inheritance tax, the state mitigates the impact of this tax on small businesses.
New Jersey’s debt picture is no different than its tax climate. We are near the bottom of the national rankings in every debt category. Overall, as of June 30, 2015 the state had more than $153 billion in bonded and nonbonded indebtedness according to the fiscal year 2015 state debt report.
The state’s high level of debt and the need to generate revenue to pay off the debt is a major factor that affects the ability to lower the state’s tax burden to improve the level of affordability for individuals, families, and businesses. However, we can no longer increase our tax burden in order to raise revenue to pay down this enormous debt. This would only make New Jersey even less competitive and would surely feed into an exit strategy for New Jersey businesses and residents.
The time is now to revisit and completely review our economic policies on taxation, revenue generation, and spending and we must do so with a sense of urgency. We must look at how we spend our tax dollars and be honest about the fact that our current economic paradigm is just not sustainable. Failing to do so now will compound the problem for the generations to come.
The only way to stem our tide of outmigration is to bring our economic policies in line with our direct regional competitors — Pennsylvania and New York. Becoming more competitive means becoming more affordable so that businesses will want to locate here and taxpayers will want to live here.
Rising costs are putting basic necessities out of reach for 37 percent or 1.2 million New Jersey households, according to the United Way ALICE Report released by United Way of Northern New Jersey.
“ALICE – Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed; Study of Financial Hardship” shows that the minimum costs to survive in New Jersey rose by 23 percent since 2007, outpacing the rate of inflation of 14 percent. The report finds that it costs a single adult $24,300 to survive annually and $64,176 for a family of four with two children under the age of five.
By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on November 23, 2016 at 6:30 AM, updated November 24, 2016 at 12:19 AM
TRENTON — After seeing the state’s unemployment rate shrink significantly last year, New Jersey’s economy is expected to slow down over the next decade, according to predictions in the latest economic forecast from Rutgers University.
Meanwhile, the United States as a whole faces economic uncertainty as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the report from the Rutgers Economic Advisory Service says.
The report predicts the Garden State will experience a “weaker-looking” economy through 2026, one that includes a leveling off of its unemployment rate. Meanwhile, the state’s real domestic product is likely to suffer and its population growth to sputter.
Posted by Laurie Ehlbeck On March 01, 2016 2 Comments
By Laurie Ehlbeck
We haven’t even made it out of the first quarter of 2016 but there is already plenty for small businesses in New Jersey to be concerned about on the upcoming legislative calendar. Senator Sweeney and Speaker Prieto seem determined to continue to challenge the economic stability of our state by introducing bills to nearly double minimum wage, mandate all employers provide sick leave and attempt to convince the voters that a pension payment must be constitutionally required. Sweeney and Prieto are creating what may ultimately amount to the most hostile session in state history in terms of damage caused to the small business community.
When it comes to minimum wage it is imperative that as a society we are honest about what it truly is. Minimum wage is not now, nor has it ever been, a vehicle in which to feed a family 4. It is an entry level wage that is earned almost exclusively by teens and young adults seeking work experience and a smooth transition into a career. Raising the minimum wage again, especially to the rate of $15 will have one direct effect. It will result in a loss of job opportunities for those seeking to expand their skill sets. It will not alleviate poverty. It will not empower the middle class. It will leave teenagers wondering what to do after school.
According to a recent study, 63 percent of workers who earn less than $9.50 per hour are the second or third earner in their family and 43 percent of these workers live in households that earn over $50,000 per year. In spite of what the proponents would have you believe, minimum wage earners are not an impoverished, disenfranchised group of struggling single mothers just trying to make ends meet. Most are teenagers from middle class families and many more are sharing the responsibility of providing for their families, not breaking under the burden of putting food on the table.
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