Highland Park– New Jersey Citizen Action Executive Director Phyllis Salowe-Kayereleased the following statement regarding the State’s joint legislative committee’s invite-only hearing on the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s corporate incentive program. The hearing came weeks after a scathing State Comptroller’s report revealed the EDA had awarded $11 billion in tax breaks to large corporations for no known benefit to New Jersey and its taxpayers.

“For years New Jersey’s only strategy to grow the economy has been tax cuts and incentives to corporations,” said Salowe-Kaye. “The net result has been $11 billion in tax incentives awarded to some of the largest and most politically connected corporations in the state with zero proof of any quantifiable return on taxpayers’ extraordinary investment. And after today’s testimony, which primarily consisted of business representatives with a vested interest in keeping the gravy train flowing, it’s clear that we cannot trust business interests to police themselves. We demand a full investigation into the EDA’s corporate incentive program, an overhaul of the way it does business, and a moratorium on tax breaks to corporations until accountability is restored. New Jersey taxpayers deserve nothing less.”

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