Varney forecasted a “mass exodus” from New Jersey when adding on the impacts of new federal tax reform, where Siekerka concurred New Jersey was a “net loser.”
“We’ve just studied regional competitiveness,” Siekerka said. “We should be able to compete within our region. So we studied seven states within our region on six business taxes and we came dead last – seven out of seven. We’re the worst tax climate in the nation.”
Still, Siekerka insisted she was “bullish on New Jersey” and seeing the glass “half full,” despite a litany of increased costs to business, which includes newly passed paid sick leave, nuclear subsidy and clean energy laws, and considerations of a mandated $15 minimum wage, expanded family leave and New Jersey’s return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
“These are billions of dollars in new costs to New Jersey ratepayers and taxpayers,” she said. “We need to take a pause on this and step back and understand the cumulative impact in dollars on today’s taxpayer.”
View Siekerka’s full conversation with Varney