BettyLou DeCroce
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QUESTION 4: What should state government’s role in economic development be?
History has proven that, as a general rule, the best thing government on the federal, local and state level can do to develop and improve the economy is to get out of the way.
Sure, it sounds great to talk about using government investments to create and grow a new type of “innovation economy” in New Jersey and turn our state into the hub of the “next big thing,” like Silicon Valley. I will not fault Governor Phil Murphy for dreaming big in what he has called the cornerstone of his economic plan for this state.
But the reality is, our rising taxes and over-regulation are already crushing innovative, start-up companies just as they are suppressing existing businesses. The proof hits us in the face each year as New Jersey embarrassingly continues to get ranked the worst state for doing business and the worst state for taxes.
Again, just a week ago, we ranked dead last in the Tax Foundation’s 2020 State Business Tax Climate Index, which measures the impact property taxes, corporate taxes and income taxes have on the economy in each state.
We must recognized, as the Governor pushes to create his new innovation economy, that New Jersey already has a state economy, one that is riding on the failure or success of thousands of already established New Jersey businesses. Most of them are small businesses, and they employ nearly 3.6 million private sector workers in our state.
What are we doing for them and the hundreds of thousands of families depending on the jobs they provide? We are crushing them with taxes and over-regulation.
The truth is, we will not have an economic future — whether innovative or traditional — if we do not nurture, grow and foster the success of the businesses and industries we already have in our state.
Unfortunately, the current administration and one-party rule in the Legislature are increasing the pressure on our local businesses with more tax hikes and more regulations.
Under Governor Murphy, taxes and fees have increased by $2.5 billion in the past two years, and it is having a terrible impact. Businesses are moving out of New Jersey, and while the administration reports the unemployment rate at 3.2 percent, data issued by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a more insidious phenomenon — workers dropping out of the job market.
New Jersey’s labor force, the amount of working-age people in New Jersey who have jobs or are looking for jobs, averages about 100,000 fewer people today than 10 years ago, despite an increase in our population. We also have job losses in well paying industry sectors. In short, our state economy is lagging behind the economic boom witnessed throughout the rest of the nation.
Government needs to get out of the way of our businesses. That is why I introduced A1403, which establishes a Review Commission to assess the effect that rules and regulations and Executive Orders have on the state’s economy. The commission will provide recommendations to the Governor to amend any rules and regulations or Executive Orders that unduly burden the state’s businesses, workers, and local governments. This is how government can help our economy.
Many laws and regulations are proposed and adopted each year in New Jersey with very good-intentions. I certainly understand protecting the environment and protecting workers from on-the-job hazards.
But that regulation process does not include an analysis of whether proposed regulations will have unanticipated negative impacts on the economy by destroying an industry that employs and supports thousands of New Jersey families or inadvertently drives up costs for our already unaffordable society.
This is a bi-partisan concern.
It was a topic of conversation earlier this month when I participated in a “Economic Prosperity Forum” hosted by the Morris County Chamber of Commerce with Democrat State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Sussex County Senator Steve Oroho, my colleague and Assemblyman Tony Bucco and other Legislators. We openly shared our thoughts on how the state needs to get out of its own way when it comes to improving the economy — and that means reducing poorly designed regulations and taxes on our businesses.
At that bi-partisan forum, the problem was poignantly displayed for us by a troubled business owner — interestingly the very same type of innovator the Governor says he wants to support. This business owner is about to be shut down because of antiquated and conflicting state and federal regulations.
The short story is, he invented a new means of keeping certain seafood fresh at grocery counters. But his innovative system may have to be pulled from four New Jersey grocery stores because a state agency says it does not comply with an antiquated federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulation that even the FDA is not trying to enforce.
My office and others are trying to help this established New Jersey employer who has already invented one of those “next new things” the Governor talks about. But once put into place, the restraints of over-regulation are hard to cut through even for Legislators.
I will not give up fighting to unchain our economy.
