By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Here’s more proof (as if you needed it) that New Jersey’s tax climate is driving residents to other states:
The Franklin and Marshall College Center for Opinion Research University recently teamed with the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants to survey 414 “high-level” CPAs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the course of the fall.
It wasn’t even a close question.
“With regard to estate and inheritance taxes, a whopping 83 percent of NJ respondents feel these taxes have prompted clients to leave the state,” the report concluded. “And, astoundingly, 71 percent have actually advised clients to relocate to another state due to NJ’s estate and inheritance taxes. A strong majority (84 percent) think these taxes impact the state’s middle class just as much as the affluent.”
Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris, Essex, and Passaic) seized on the results to renew the bipartisan push back against the death tax.
“Those who know about and deal with the direct effects of New Jersey taxation agree – high taxes, especially the death tax, drive people and their money out of New Jersey and hurt the middle class,” added Webber. “New Jersey is 50th out of 50 states in taxation overall, and the state’s estate and inheritance taxes combined are the worst in the nation. Repealing the death tax now will bring many benefits to New Jersey’s individuals, families, businesses and economy, as this poll of CPAs shows.”
