Senate President Steve Sweeney and Speaker Sheila Oliver have finally done it Save Jerseyans! Today they announced a package of bills to save the economy, bring in businesses to our state, and rescue the unemployed from, well, unemployment. Since the economy crashed in the Fall of 2008, and businesses have been fleeing the highest taxed, most anti-business state in the union (thats us, by the way) since the early years of the Corzine Administration, that means that it only took 25 months at best, 4 years at worst, to formulate some sort of plan to solve a huge policy problem in New Jersey. Now I know what I am going to be thankful for tomorrow…
Admittedly, Save Jerseyans, there are some good ideas in this proposal. According to our friends over at PolitickerNJ, Sweeney’s late plan includes a reform to the corporate tax structure that could actually bring in business. The crux of the plan would phase out property and payroll taxes for corporations in New Jersey over the next three years, and will focus only on taxing income from sales. The effect of this is that taxes for businesses that choose to operate in New Jersey will be lower than those who are established out of state but have goods or services consumed here, since those out of state businesses will be paying taxes to both their home state and New Jersey. This is a good idea. Other states are doing it, and so should New Jersey. Better late than never , I suppose.
So what’s the problem then? Well, numerous Republican proposals have been introduced during this legislative session, and almost every single one has been ignored by the Majority party. What’s worse is that the toolkit reforms that would allow for eventual property tax reduction, a huge barrier to entry in many municipalities, have also been ignored. Assembly Republican Leader DeCroce said
It is astounding that it has taken three years for the Democrats to realize that jobs and the economy are important. In order to return New Jersey as an affordable place to live and work, we must give the highest priority to enacting the property tax reform legislation contained in Gov. Christie’s Tool Kit. It is a sad fact that over the last five months Assembly Democrats have only spent 90 minutes in committees considering these critical property tax reform bills.
I realize that politics is a game we never stop playing in New Jersey, but this is the economy, these are people’s jobs, their livelihood we are talking about. This does not have to be a partisan issue. Today Senate Republican Leader Kean said
Just as there is no silver bullet to solve our property tax problem, there is no single program that will create jobs for every New Jersey resident who needs one. Making New Jersey an attractive place to do business is an ‘all of the above’ proposition, and the Legislature must not rest until it exhausts every responsible avenue to achieve this goal. Republicans asked that this debate start at the beginning of the year, and we continue to stand ready to work in a bi-partisan manner to address unemployment, the most pressing issue facing our state.
He’s absolutely right. This debate should have begun far sooner than December 2010. Let’s hope something positive comes out of the state house soon before more business, and more jobs, leave New Jersey for greener pastures in Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware.
