Creating an Innovative Economy for New Jersey

As part of our Future of Innovation series, Steve Adubato and Anjalee Khemlani, Managing Editor, ROI-NJ, discuss Governor Murphy’s new proposed budget, ways in which NJ is focusing on an innovative economy and Hoboken’s mission to go green.

3/16/19 #301

Excerpt:

"One of the best journalists you're gonna find in the state, we have her right here. Anjalee Khemlani, Managing Editor of ROI-NJ. By the way, for those who do not know what ROI-NJ is, tell them. Return On Information. It's a business... statewide business publication. Anjalee, let's get right into the fact that we're doing this program a week after the governor's budget address. It'll be seen after that. The issues still matter. The governor is not gonna change on this one. He said, "We need a millionaire's tax." Five million last year? Mm hmm. Gonna increase taxes this year a million. Why is that such a huge issue? It's a huge issue for the business community, because you're not just talking about people who are wealthy, you're talking about job creators in the state. And that's what... the biggest pushback that you're gonna see from them. And they're pretty adamant about that. So you're talking about start-up companies, you're talking about people who are part of the ecosystem, right? Of the state. And so, if you have more people who are being taxed, and more of that money's going towards the state, they're just not going to be as philanthropic, they're not going to be, as you know, ready to put that money into other parts of the state. We just had the Speaker of the House, Craig Coughlin, on, and he said, and also the Senate President said, "No. We're not for this. There were certain aspects of the governor's budget we like, this one we do not." Do you buy into the argument...? And by the way, Jon Bramnick, the Assembly Minority Leader, came on State of Affairs and said, "We're gonna lose more and more people, who are in a million up, to Florida, where there is no income tax." Do you buy it? I think everyone has seen this happen. Whether or not it happens in droves, or it's just anecdotal, is what we have to wait and see. Is it relevant? Even if it's anecdotal, is it relevant? Of course it's relevant. It's relevant because you're gonna be losing the higher income people, and then the burden shifts to the, you know, middle class and lower class in the state. But the governor is arguing that this is tax fairness, and what you described just then didn't sound fair if it's... Well I know that I... But that's not the governor's... but hold on, that's not the governor's intent? Right. To push the tax burden on the middle class and those who earn less, right? His assumption, I'm assuming, and this is just based on what I've heard, is that we're not..."