O’Scanlon on Murphy’s CBT Tax Surcharge Surprise

June 11, 2024

New provision includes a “utility tax” on water, gas, and electric users

Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) issued the following statement today concerning chatter that a draft of Governor Murphy’s proposed $1 billion business tax surcharge will include a new tax on water, gas, and electric users.

“With two weeks to go before the Legislature considers the Governor’s CBT tax surcharge proposal, draft legislation is circulating that would newly extend the old tax surcharge to water, gas, and electric utilities.  We know the tax will get passed along to everyone who drinks water, lights up the gas grill, heats their house, or turns on the air conditioning.  It’s bad enough that the Governor is retroactively re-imposing an old surcharge that gets passed along to middle class shoppers at Home Depot, Walmart, and Aldi, but now it will newly slam water, gas and electric consumers who had previously been protected.”

“The expansion of the tax would explain why the new CBT surcharge is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars more from taxpayers every year than the old surcharge.”

“In June, budget and tax legislation gets enacted in mere days after being available for the public.  Like the budget itself, this legislation will have a June surprise.  If I’m wrong, the Administration can finally release their actual proposal with a thorough explanation of why it will collect hundreds of millions more from taxpayers than the surcharge it supposedly just reimposes.”