Senate Republicans Call for Changes to Business Tax Policies in Wake of NYC Google Expansion Announcement

In light of yesterday’s Wall Street Journal report detailing Google’s plans to add 12,000 new jobs in New York City, Senate Republicans Tom Kean and Steven Oroho said that the expansion would cost New Jersey thousands of  jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

“Given our state’s bad-for-business policies, it wasn’t a surprise that Amazon chose Long Island City over New Jersey, but the news of Google’s decision to expand to New York City is just as bad,” Senator Oroho said.

“Many of these new Google employees will most likely choose to raise families in New Jersey, while paying income taxes in New York. That means we will lose out on the high-paying jobs that could have been created here, and the tax revenue we need to fund our schools.”

State income tax revenue supports property tax relief, including state school funding in New Jersey.

“Look at the numbers. They are horrifying – the sheer amount of tax revenue that we stand to lose from Amazon and Google’s decisions to move to New York instead of New Jersey should be a loud wake-up call. Combined, we could be losing $150 million in income tax revenue and hundreds of millions more in business taxes,” Oroho added.

New Jersey is losing 25,000 Amazon jobs with average salaries of at least $100,000, according to the HQ2 proposal.  According to New Jersey’s current tax tables, that amounts to an approximate $40 million loss in income tax revenue for every 10,000 hi-tech jobs created by companies such as Google that offer comparable salaries.

“It is no secret that New Jersey continuously misses out on thousands of high-paying tech jobs, because of high taxes and over-regulation,” Senator Kean said. “This Google expansion is a lose-lose situation for us. The Big Apple will receive all of the income tax benefits, and our local governments will pay the bill. How many more times are we going to sit by and watch companies choose to set up shop elsewhere, before we take action?”

“Governor Murphy’s efforts to grow an innovative economy need to be more than just rhetoric. As far as the tech giants in this world are concerned, New Jersey is closed for business,” Kean added.

“I urge our leaders to work together to enact tax and business policies that encourage companies to invest in our state, before yet another large employer passes us by,” Senator Kean concluded.