Says $425 Million Would Be Better Spent on School Funding, Property Tax Relief, and Supporting Small Businesses

Senator Joe Pennacchio said that a conditional veto issued by Governor Phil Murphy that would extend tax credits to reality television makes a bad bill even worse, and called for the $425 million cost of the credits to instead be used to increase school funding, property tax relief, and support for small businesses that help improve New Jersey’s communities.

“Governor Murphy’s ‘Snooki amendment’ to provide tax credits to reality television takes a bad bill and makes it worse,” said Pennacchio (R-26). “There are a whole host of needs from school aid to property tax relief that deserve $425 million before we consider giving it to Snooki.”

Both houses of the Legislature approved S-122, the “Garden State Film and Digital Media Jobs Act,” on April 12th. The measure would provide a credit against the corporation business tax and the gross income tax for certain expenses incurred for the production of certain films and digital media content in this State. The total cost would be $425 million over five years.

Pennacchio voted against the effort to reinstate the tax credit, which expired in 2015.

Governor Murphy’s conditional veto of the legislation calls for the proposed tax credit program to be expanded to make certain reality television shows filmed in New Jersey eligible for support.

“You’d think after all of the backlash Rutgers received over paying $32,000 for Snooki to make an appearance that we’d have learned our lesson that public funds shouldn’t be wasted promoting reality tv,” Pennacchio added. “Where’s the support for all of the small businesses that work hard every day to help build our communities? That’s where we should be focusing our efforts.”