By The Staff | The Save Jersey Blog
TRENTON – With legislation to raise the gas tax AND institute a $15 minimum wage racing through both chambers of the New Jersey legislature ahead of the July 1st budget deadline, Save Jerseyans, our friends over at the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) are once again stating the obvious.
“The long-term result of the labor cost increase associated with $15 an hour minimum wage is New Jersey losing 70,000 jobs over the next decade, but lawmakers refuse to see the writing on the wall,” said NFIB New Jersey State Director Laurie Ehlbeck. “We warned them earlier this year that it will deter job growth and destroy what is left of our economy, and yet here we are.”
“As usual, Governor Christie is our only hope. He has exercised his veto authority on behalf of the small-business community countless times, and we are certainly hopeful he will do so again,” Ehlbeck continued. “Raising the cost of labor for employers of minimum wage workers by 79 percent over as little as five years is a hit that no one can afford to take, and Governor Christie knows that. He has been our firewall for years, and while we are eternally grateful for his leadership, we are increasingly fearful of what will happen when he is no longer in office.”
Democrats will push for a fall 2017 $15 minimum wage ballot question following a likely Christie veto. A-15/S-15 would increase New Jersey’s minimum wage from $8.38/hour to $10.10/hour on January 1, 2017; successive annual increases would culminate in a $15/hour minimum wage effective January 1, 2021.
“It’s undeniable that increasing the minimum wage by nearly 80% will result in substantial job losses for people already struggling,” said Senate GOP Leader Tom Kean, Jr. “Taking away opportunities to get a foothold in the workforce will harm the same young and inexperienced people that the sponsors of this legislation are trying to help.”
It’s less certain where Christie will come down on the gas tax hike but he’s already openly expressed disenchantment with the Oroho-Sarlo proposal. A 23-cent gas tax hike would go into affect on July 1st. It’s scheduled for final legislative approval this upcoming Monday.
“You can’t raise taxes to cut taxes,” State Senator Jen Beck declared on Thursday, citing the estate tax’s four-year phase out in the 109-page bill. “This will be devastating to our economy and back breaking to our residents. It will drive up the cost of virtually everything in our state.”
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