NJBIA Calls for No Tax Increases, More Savings in FY 2021 State Budget Testimony

New Jersey Business and Industry Association Vice President of Government Affairs Chris Emigholz called for a stop on “unrelenting” and “unnecessary” tax increases in his testimony on the FY 2021 State Budget before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

While citing some positives for the business community in Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed state budget, Emigholz said NJBIA opposes “a budget reliant on over a billion dollars in unnecessary tax increases.”

“The budget does not do enough to make New Jersey more affordable, and tax increases will do nothing to help,” Emigholz said. “We believe greater emphasis should be placed on structural reforms to cut spending rather than finding new revenues that taxpayers frankly cannot afford.”

Gov. Murphy proposed a record $40.9 billion budget on Feb. 25 for the new fiscal year that begins on July 1. The proposed budget includes $2.2 billion in new spending, which is up 5.7% from the budget for the current fiscal year. If enacted, the budget would be 17.9% higher than before the governor took office.

“This new spending every year puts us further into a budget hole,” Emigholz said. “Holding the line on new spending would make any tax increases unnecessary and a more fiscally responsible budget.
“New Jersey’s taxes are a burden, but what makes us unique and makes them unrelenting, is that each broad-based state tax (corporate taxes, personal income taxes, sales taxes and of course property taxes) is among the worst in the nation – a negative outlier in every major tax putting New Jersey in an exclusive place of shame,” Emigholz added.

To read Emigholz’s full testimony, visit here.