Pointing to recent lack of substantive legislation, members of business community argue that high taxes and underfunded pension system aren’t taking a summer break
Members of Opportunity New Jersey, a nonprofit organization led by the state’s top business leaders, speak about the need to address the state’s biggest economic and fiscal problems yesterday.
John Reitmeyer reports
for NJ Spotlight:
for NJ Spotlight:
New Jersey’s business leaders are concerned the state is approaching a crisis point precipitated by its notoriously high taxes and severely underfunded public-employee pension system. And they want to help lead a statewide discussion of possible fixes that could be enacted before it’s too late.
The call to action was aired yesterday by the leaders of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Business & Industry Association, and other organizations, and it comes just as voters are getting ready to elect a new governor to replace the term-limited Chris Christie. All 120 seats in the state Legislature are also on the ballot in the fall.
The business groups say they are hoping to rekindle some of the success they’ve attributed to a similar public-awareness effort that was launched in 2015, when lawmakers and the governor were largely ignoring what was then the looming expiration of the multibillion-dollar New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund. The Republican Christie and Democratic legislative leaders ultimately came together in 2016 to renew the trust fund for another eight years.
This year, the business leaders have their work cut out for them, as lawmakers have largely taken the summer off in the wake of an ugly state government shutdown that occurred earlier this year after Christie and legislative leaders were deadlocked for several days on a new state budget.
Epitomizing the summer’s lack of substantive activity was last month’s introduction of new legislation seeking to rewrite how the state regulates bells attached to horse-drawn sleighs.
The policy debate among the candidates running for governor this year hasn’t been much better, with Republican Kim Guadagno and Democrat Phil Murphy attacking each other in recent days on issues related to the Confederate flag and anti-Semitism.
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