New Jersey Citizen Action released the following statement today in support of Governor Phil Murphy’s use of veto power to reform the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s corporate tax subsidy program.

“We support Governor Murphy taking swift action to veto this legislation,” said Dena Mottola Jaborska, Associate Director of New Jersey Action. “The EDA’s corporate tax subsidy program needs major overhauls before it can be allowed to continue. The legislation the Governor plans to veto was far too weak and falls far short of the reforms the program needs. The governor’s conditional veto includes many important reforms, including caps on total spending on corporate subsidies annually. We call on the Legislature to support and act on much more comprehensive reforms without delay.”

Last week NJCA and 5 other groups called for 6 major reforms to the EDA’s corporate tax subsidy program:

• Ensuring resident and minority hiring in communities where the tax incentives are located.
• Caps on annual spending and caps on cost-per-job to increase oversight, address affordability and make costs-per-year-more predictable.
• Shortening the award timeframe to three years to allow the state to spend less on subsidies while receiving the same benefit.
• Improve reporting requirements to include performance metrics, enhance transparency and clarity.
• Implement a recurring evaluation process conducted by the state comptroller every three years to ensure proper oversight and analysis.
• Require strong labor standards of companies benefiting from tax incentives, including full-time jobs, living wage salaries and a record of compliance with established health, safety, labor, minimum wage and overtime standards.

“The Legislature’s failure to act would only continue a mismanaged and corrupted corporate tax subsidy program that has benefited mostly politically connected corporations, some which have acted fraudulently, at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers,” said Mottola. “New Jersey taxpayers will be watching how the Legislature acts and expect them to enact meaningful reforms.”