DePhillips says New Jersey needs to lower its corporate tax rate

In response to a report from the right-leaning Tax Foundation that lists New Jersey dead-last on its State Business Tax Climate Index, Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips (R-Wyckoff) released a statement this morning calling on state leadership to lower corporate tax rates.

“New Jersey can’t keep coming in last for business climate and remain competitive,” DePhillips said. “It is imperative that we put policies in place to attract and retain business and that starts by cutting our corporate business tax. I am calling on legislative leadership again to post my bill for consideration.”

The bill DePhillips is referring to is A1146, which would reduce New Jersey’s 11.5% corporate business tax down to 2.5%, matching North Carolina’s rate as lowest of any state in the country. It’s never come up for a committee vote, and almost certainly won’t unless Republicans were to take control of the legislature.

“The extra revenue from the surcharge and high corporate tax rate is not worth the fall out,” DePhillips said in support of his bill. “The more we continue to drive these businesses and corporations out of the state, the more we are going to hurt regular families.”

The Tax Foundation report singles out New Jersey for the tax burdens it imposes on residents in a number of different areas, from corporate taxes to inheritance taxes.

“The states in the bottom 10 tend to have a number of afflictions in common: complex, nonneutral taxes with comparatively high rates,” the report says. “New Jersey, for example, is hampered by some of the highest property tax burdens in the country, has the highest-rate corporate income taxes in the county, and has one of the highest-rate individual income taxes.”

Messaging from Republicans that New Jersey’s taxes are too high is an inevitability in New Jersey politics, especially in election years. During the 2021 gubernatorial election, Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli endlessly replayed Gov. Phil Murphy’s line that “if you’re a one-issue voter and tax rate is your issue, we’re probably not your state” to emphasize his promise to lower taxes.

“Here’s the thing: taxes are an issue for a lot of New Jersey families,” Ciattarelli said in his first general election ad. “But Phil Murphy saying ‘if you don’t like it you should leave’ is an even bigger one.”