Oroho Calls on Murphy to Stop Rolling Over for New York in Interstate Tax Fight

Says State and New Jersey Taxpayers Losing Billions Through Governor’s Inaction

Senator Steven Oroho (R-24) called for Governor Phil Murphy to stop giving in without a fight to New York tax officials who are stepping up enforcement to claim income tax payments they don’t deserve from New Jersey residents.

“It’s shocking to watch as Governor Murphy continues to sit silent while a horde of tax officials in Albany are issuing billions of dollars of tax bills to New Jersey residents for income earned here in the Garden State during the pandemic,” said Oroho, the Senate Republican Budget Officer. “The ‘convenience of the employer’ rule that New York is using to stake its claim clearly shouldn’t apply if offices were closed due to the pandemic and workers had no choice but to work from home in New Jersey. If there ever was a time to fight back against New York’s unfair taxation of New Jerseyans, it’s now.”

Oroho has led the charge in calling for New Jersey to challenge New York’s unjust taxation of remote workers.

He successfully urged the State to file an amicus curiae brief in a related interstate tax case questioning the constitutionality of an effort by Massachusetts to continue subjecting nonresidents from the Granite State to the Bay State’s income taxes for work performed remotely.

Less than two weeks ago, Oroho partnered with Congressman Josh Gottheimer to author a letter to United States Treasurer Janet Yellen and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig urging federal guidance to address the concerns of more than a dozen states regarding the unconstitutional extraterritorial assertions of taxing power by states like New York and Massachusetts.

Additionally, Oroho and Senate Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo (D-36) have sponsored legislation requiring the State Treasurer to examine New York’s taxation of New Jersey residents’ income. The bill, S-3064, passed the Senate in October and is pending consideration in the General Assembly.

“Governor Murphy needs to stop rolling over for New York,” added Oroho. “He hasn’t done nearly enough while his friend, Governor Cuomo, steals more than $1 billion from New Jersey and billions more from our taxpayers who pay higher income tax rates to New York. He needs to do more to defend New Jersey and its residents.”

As Oroho noted in an NJ.com editorial, most remote workers who are no longer commuting across the Hudson could cut their tax bills by more than half if they paid income taxes to New Jersey rather than to New York.

Since income taxes in New Jersey are dedicated constitutionally to supporting property tax relief, the redirection of tax payments to the Garden State could support expanding the Homestead Benefit, Senior Freeze, and increasing State school aid to lower property tax bills.