Christine Clarke
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QUESTION 4: What should state government’s role in economic development be?
New Jersey has a unique opportunity, with our ideal offshore wind conditions, to lead the nation in building a thriving clean energy economy. We have the potential to create tens of thousands of jobs in moving to solar and offshore wind, investing in research and development to improve low carbon technologies and low-carbon-footprint businesses, and implement brilliant innovation at scale to advance renewable energy jobs, protect clean air and water, improve public health and quality of life, and grow the tax base. In the course of reviewing and revising policies related to state job creation, our focus must be on responsible stewardship of the public trust and tax dollars with appropriate oversight and reporting, while instating best practices guidelines that help make sure the jobs we’re creating help working families thrive.
New Jersey’s current corporate tax subsidy programs are an outlier in terms of dollars spent per job created. We spend five times more per job created than neighboring states do. The audits recently done on our tax credit programs indicate rates as high as $196,388 per job created for one prominent company and $235,902 for another. This is not sound stewardship of tax dollars. The Economic Opportunity Act repealing caps did us a disservice; nationally, the average is $33,000 per job created for these programs; in 2018 New Jersey’s average was $80,000 per job created.
Reforms to the Economic Development Authority to align it with a robust, responsible job growth plan that would grow our economy, particularly with investments into the clean energy economy given that ‘solar/photovoltaic installer’ and ‘wind turbine technician’ are the fasting growing jobs across the country, states along the Atlantic Ocean are submitting competitive bids for wind energy growth and corporations looking to service these industries are considering where to base their headquarters and manufacturing sites, could be a tremendous asset to the state. Already, the New Jersey Offshore Wind Business Registry has over 400 businesses looking to be a part of the expanding supply chain work available in moving to a clean energy economy, and the creation of the New Jersey Wind Institute initiative partnering with our colleges and unions to train and prepare workers for these exciting new jobs will make sure New Jersey residents are first in line to take these well paying union jobs, with the proper training and preparation to be effective in implementing the low-carbon clean energy generation we urgently need.
In considering reforms, the following should be priorities:
- End the shift from large generous tax breaks with little oversight, and move to investments in new and developing sectors in competitive-industry businesses promising growth for our state, prioritizing offshore wind and solar, and low-carbon innovation and technology businesses;
- Reprioritize our spending and audit processes: helipads and waterfront luxury businesses do not lure prospective new residents to move to New Jersey, but affordable homes, small business opportunities, exciting technologies and industries, and great schools and hospitals do;
- Instate hard caps on the annual budget allocated to economic development and to the amount awarded per job and per company, with requirements for proven need and basis for these awards, strict reporting criteria, and a review process to ensure we are not losing investments to giveaways or reckless ineffective spending;
- Restrict the sale of tax credits; we’ve learned that it’s ineffective to allow businesses to claim they are leaving New Jersey, obtain tax credits to stay and create jobs, and then sell those to other companies;
- Shorten the award time frames and expectations – it’s ineffective to hold a company awarded funds accountable to job creation within a 30 year time frame of receiving the tax credit with oversight for only 15 of those years;
- Create local hiring agreements, strong labor protections and wage best practices, as well as workplace safety standards that are tied to the awards;
- Create additional programs for small and medium sized businesses, not just large corporations.
- We should also consider the possibility of an interstate corporate subsidy alliance. The reason our tax dollars are so readily given away is because employers threaten to move to other states to get that money. Some of the reasons are valid; other times, we have seen companies take advantage of our tax credit program and pretend they are moving just to get a handout. An interstate and regional agreement with surrounding states would make it less likely that companies would attempt to abuse the system in this manner. Collectively working with our neighbors to foster healthy job growth and business growth would help ensure better stewardship of our tax dollars.
It’s exciting, as a clean energy advocate, to run for State Assembly at a time when we have the potential to set the bar on policy nationally and show the nation what a thriving clean energy economy can do for our state; to generate new revenue without squeezing taxpayers, reduce energy costs and work to reduce our emissions and energy burden. As someone challenging incumbents who voted against and abstained from voting on the Clean Energy Act, one of whom also voted against updates to the Global Warming Response Act, and in an election in which the entire New Jersey State Assembly is up for re-election or replacement, it falls to voters to decide the priorities in this election. Poll after poll indicates that our priorities of advancing renewable energy jobs, protecting clean air and water, improving healthcare and broadly, legislating with empathy and fiscal responsibility, as well as exercising good governance best practices, are concerns among our district’s voters as well. I am hopeful that people’s choices at the polls in new state representatives reflect the same. Please visit www.clarkeforassembly.com to learn more about our campaign or reach out with questions, and thank you to MyVeronaNJ for the opportunity to participate in this question series.
