GAS TAX INCREASE UNACCEPTABLE TO SMALL BUSINESS, REGARDLESS OF DEAL
TRENTON (September 30, 2016): The following statement may be attributed to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) New Jersey state director, Laurie Ehlbeck, regarding the agreement reached this evening to fund the Transportation Trust Fund.
NFIB has been advocating for a repeal of the estate tax for as long as we can remember. New Jersey is only one of two states in the nation that have both an estate and an inheritance tax so the idea is certainly not groundbreaking. I am confident that our members will be pleased to see it finally gone upon its phase out in 2018. That being said, those same members have made it abundantly clear that even with an estate tax elimination, an increase in the gas tax was would deter economic growth.
A tremendous amount of time and effort has been put into determining the fate of the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) but in the end, lawmakers in Trenton went back to the script of raising taxes and penalizing the small business sector. To say we are disappointed is an understatement. We expect better of the same politicians that campaign promising that they value the contribution that small businesses make to our economy. Clearly that is not the case.