Van Drew would not support rental home tax

There are rumors that Democratic legislative leaders are said to be considering a tax on rental homes as part of their budget negotiations with Gov. Phil Murphy, but such a proposal doesn’t have the support of the entire caucus.

State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Dennis) said on Wednesday that he is “100% opposed” to such a tax, which he fears would hit the Jersey Shore community particularly hard when coupled with other tax increases sought by Senate President Steve Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Murphy.

“This is something that I thought a lot of us had made clear, that there is an out-migration of people from new jersey and we have to be really careful on what we do, and we really have to be careful about adding on more and more taxes and fees,” Van Drew said. “New Jerseyans have been fee’d, taxed, tolled and charged to death.”

It’s not clear whether the proposal has reached the governor yet, and while Van Drew said he had not discussed the measure with legislative leadership, rumors of it had reached him.

Van Drew voted against the budget the legislature passed last Thursday, citing similar concerns about a large number of new taxes. Those concerns are unlikely to be eased by the latest round of negotiations.

As the Democratic nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s 2nd district, which has had a Republican congressman since 1995 and supported Donald Trump for president, Van Drew has been careful to avoid any votes where he could be criticized for raising taxes.