Earlier today the Senate Select Committee on Economic Growth Strategies heard testimony from recipients of corporate tax subsidies under the Economic Opportunity Act. In response to today’s hearing, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) releases the following statement. 

SHEILA REYNERTSON, SENIOR POLICY ANALYST, NEW JERSEY POLICY PERSPECTIVE: 

“Today’s hearing does nothing to discount the testimony of national experts and economists from earlier this month. The facts remain that New Jersey’s corporate subsidies are a national outlier, as the state spends way more than it should for every job created. At the rate New Jersey pays in corporate subsidies — $196,388 per job to Subaru and $235,902 per job to American Water Works — taxpayers will never break even. This is a failed approach to economic development.

“Instead of providing data on job creation, the companies that testified today instead touted their philanthropy work. In an era of runaway economic inequality, charity is no substitute for paying taxes. Lawmakers must rein in the state’s corporate tax breaks with hard caps, shorter timeframes, and greater oversight.”

Read NJPP’s latest report on reining in corporate subsidies:

https://www.njpp.org/budget/reining-in-corporate-tax-subsidies-a-better-economic-development-playbook-for-new-jersey

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