GOP ANNOUNCES MORE SUPPORT FOR SALES TAX HOLIDAY

Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce noted that as warnings about more job losses and a possibly disastrous retail shopping season continue to mount, yet another organization has announced its support for a Republican proposal to reduce the state sales tax from 7 to 3.5 percent from Thanksgiving through January 4th.

On Tuesday, the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) sent a letter to New Jersey legislators announcing that it supports the Republican sales tax holiday proposal. NTU is a national nonprofit, non-partisan citizen group whose members work every day for lower taxes and smaller government at all levels. The organization has 10,000 New Jersey members.

“We are pleased to have the support of a leading taxpayer advocacy organization and hope that the growing support for this proposal will force Governor Corzine to rethink his opposition to the plan,” said DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. “It should be no surprise that both those who represent businesses and those who represent taxpayers realize that this proposal is a winner for the state.”

The NTU said the strength of the Assembly Republican sales tax initiative is that it is a component of a much larger and comprehensive plan to stimulate the economy and make New Jersey a more affordable state.

Representatives from the New Jersey Restaurant Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey, and the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association announced their support for the holiday sales tax reduction at a news conference last week.

The temporary sales tax holiday is timed to occur at a “make or break” time of year for many New Jersey businesses and is aimed at providing enough of a boost to keep those businesses open – and their workers employed.

Numerous reports project that this year’s holiday shopping season could be the worst in years for retailers. The National Retail Federation recently projected that holiday season sales will only rise by 2.2 percent – less than half the average rise in sales during the past ten holiday seasons. Additionally, the market research firm TNS Retail Forward projects that this year’s holiday season sales growth will be the lowest in the past 17 years.

“We cannot sit back and allow our economy to grind to a halt during this crucial time of year for so many employers and workers,” DeCroce said. “If we want to maintain jobs in this state, and give consumers the purchasing power they desperately need right now, this is the one proposal offered so far that will yield immediate, positive results.”

DeCroce pointed out that the sales tax holiday is a short-term component to a more comprehensive long-term economic development proposal contained in the Republican “Common Sense Plan for an Affordable New Jersey,” which can be reviewed at www.njassemblyrepublicans.com.