New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to Veto Income Tax Increase
In his much anticipated state of the state speech on Jan. 13, Gov. Chris Christie talked about tax relief for small business—a welcome notion, according to NFIB New Jersey State Director Laurie Ehlbeck.
“The Governor said it best, the higher the taxes are for proprietors, not only will fewer people and businesses come to New Jersey, but more will consider leaving,” she said. “Unfortunately, the democratically controlled legislature here in New Jersey insists on constantly attempting to bombard small businesses with increased taxes and burdensome regulations.”
So, how did Chris Christie do on NFIB’s Small Biz Bingo?
Mentioned: Property Tax Relief
Today, we have had four years of less than 2 percent annual property tax growth. Now it’s because of the property tax cap we passed together in 2011 is working. This is a bipartisan achievement.
Mentioned: No income tax increase
“The Governor highlighted what our members have been saying for years, that increasing taxes and making it more difficult and expensive to do business in New Jersey will only result in businesses leaving our state,” Ehlbeck said. “I hope that the legislature will take the Governor’s words to heart and come together to cut taxes and make growing a small business in New Jersey a more prosperous venture.”
Here’s what Christie had to say about small business’ role in the state’s economy over the last year.
In these past five years, we have delivered needed tax relief to small businesses.
The $2.3 billion small business tax relief package that we continue to phase in is improving New Jersey’s business climate and making our state more competitive.
That approach is explicit in the sweeping, bipartisan changes we’ve made to New Jersey’s economic incentive programs. I want to congratulate you: We have streamlined these incentives. And we have better targeted them to areas of our state that need investment most.
And the verdict is in — and the early returns from the economic opportunity act show that it is working to attract and retain businesses. In total, our pro-growth policies and streamlined economic development efforts have brought in over $12 billion dollars of new public and private investment in New Jersey in these last five years.
What did you think of Christie’s speech—how would a tax increase impact your small business?
