Just days after his inauguration, Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order that calls on the state comptroller’s office to produce an evaluation of the state’s corporate tax break programs by the end of 2018, Reuters reported.
Though the announcement came one day after Amazon revealed its final list of 20 contenders for its second North American headquarters—including Newark, which has offered the company a sizable incentives package to entice them—a representative from Murphy’s office said the audit was not connected to the Amazon incentives.
New Jersey’s business tax incentives have grown in the past decade, with the state’s Economic Development Authority spending $8 billion on them since 2010 compared with $1.2 billion spent between 2000 and 2010.
“Tax incentives play a role in smart economic development,” Gov. Murphy said in a statement. “But they have to be the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.”
It’s not clear yet whether this audit will lead to elimination of tax breaks that impact small businesses, but NFIB/NJ will be monitoring any tax proposals carefully.
