SMALL BUSINESS REACTION TO CHRISTIE’S FINAL ADDRESS
TRENTON (January 10, 2017): In response to Governor Christie’s State of the State today, the following statement may be attributed to Laurie Ehlbeck, New Jersey state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB):
We applaud the Governor for tackling one of the most critical issues of our time. His focus today on addiction is no doubt profoundly important to the state of New Jersey. That being said, we are disappointed that today’s remarks stopped short of presenting a broader scale economic proposal that would impact the small business community.
Unfortunately, the Garden State remains ranked number one in the nation for residents fleeing to other locations in the country. Without a realistic discussion regarding the economic conditions that taxpayers, including small business owners, face the rate in which people seek asylum from New Jersey’s economy will only increase. We failed to hear a robust plan to improve our economy or reduce our crippling tax structure.
Economically, we are stagnant at best and continuing to do nothing about our ballooning deficit and crushing pension obligations will only make matters worse. Talk of dramatic, bipartisan pension reform can no longer be used simply as catchy campaign slogans for our repeatedly elected state officials. Considering that substantive economic reforms were barely footnotes during today’s remarks, the hope for the small business community is that more will be addressed during this year’s Budget Address.