FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TRENTON, NJ (Feb. 27, 2024) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy association, released the following statement by State Director Eileen Kean in response to Gov. Phil Murphy’s new budget message issued this afternoon.

“New Jersey’s small business owners are very disappointed with Gov. Murphy’s budget message and strongly oppose his new effort to permanently hike the already steep state tax rate on businesses in the Garden State,” said NFIB New Jersey State Director Eileen Kean. “The temporary Corporate Business Tax (CBT) fee sunset as it was supposed to only last December 31st, and now Governor Murphy and lawmakers are working to permanently resurrect this additional CBT surcharge on New Jersey businesses.”

“This tax hike will have a cascading effect, as such a significant new tax impacts all small businesses and consumers even if it is not directly imposed,” continued Kean. “With the heightened concerns of small business owners with New Jersey’s difficult economic climate and high tax burden, the governor and state lawmakers should put a pause on new tax hikes that will only harm Main Street businesses and job creation. What they should do is take an honest look at ballooning state government spending. The previous administration’s last budget in 2017 was $35 billion, and the budget proposed this afternoon is $55.4 billion. Any small business owner could tell you this is irresponsible and unsustainable.”

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For 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.