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(Associated Press) - The latest update of New Jersey’s corporate tax incentive programs includes a bid to get more help to Atlantic City, which has been hit hard by the recent closure of several boardwalk casinos.
Governor Christie rejected legislation aimed at boosting New Jersey’s job market with generous tax breaks last month, saying not enough was being done to aid the struggling seaside resort. Christie, in a conditional veto, said he wanted to put non-gambling developments in Atlantic City in the same category as those proposed in Paterson, Passaic, Camden and Trenton when it comes to qualifying for the most generous state tax credits.
Lawmakers in the state Senate agreed with Christie on Tuesday, voting 21-5 in favor of several changes he proposed to the tax-incentive bill, including prioritizing new developments in Atlantic City.
“We need it. We need to create jobs,” said Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union.
Christie’s conditional veto has already been approved in the state Assembly, where the bill originated.
New Jersey’s corporate tax incentive programs are primarily administered through the state Economic Development Authority. They offer businesses breaks on future tax payments in exchange for a promise to locate in New Jersey or promise not to leave the state. The incentives become more generous when a business locates in one of the state’s struggling cities.
But the programs have been criticized by some for taking too much revenue out of the state budget at a time when tax collections have only slowly rebounded coming out of the last recession, causing the state to cut property tax relief and skip full payments into the public employee pension system. And though the corporate ta incentive programs are aimed at job creation, New Jersey’s unemployment still trails many neighbors and the national average.
“Something is wrong,” said Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, during the debate before Tuesday’s vote in the Senate.
“We keep throwing good money after bad,” she said. “We need more revenue, not less.”
But proponents of the tax incentive programs said other states, including neighboring New York — which has been flooding the airwaves with ads highlighting recent changes to its incentive programs — are offering companies generous tax breaks that need to be matched if New Jersey is going to remain competitive.
“We are not losing money by investing here,” said Sen. Jen Beck, R-Monmouth. “This is allowing us to entice companies to come to New Jersey, and those that are seriously considering packing up and leaving, that they reconsider instead.”
“We certainly know these programs have worked,” she said.
