On June 30, Governor Murphy signed the FY2023 State Budget. Although the final $50.6 billion FY2023 budget is the largest in state history with no new taxes, it included minimal assistance to the state’s business community.

Businesses were not included in the signature property tax relief program known as ANCHOR, that includes $2 billion in property tax rebates for about two million New Jersey homeowners and renters.

The budget also contained a $6.8 billion contribution the public worker pension fund, and a $6.3 billion surplus, which is the largest in modern state history.

CCSNJ President and CEO Christina Renna released the following statement on the signing of the State Budget:

"Today, Governor Murphy signed the largest budget in state history - $50.6 billion – in which a mere $50 million was allocated for New Jersey’s small businesses community. This is simply unacceptable as businesses continue to recover from the pandemic. The Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey (CCSNJ) is strongly disappointed that state government did not prioritize the plight of struggling small businesses, many of which are women and minority-owned, given the strong financial position New Jersey is currently in.

While the CCSNJ was pleased to see that this budget did not include new taxes or fees, it also does not offer new, long-term revenue sources that New Jersey can rely on in the future. And, although pleased to see fiscally responsible actions such as a full pension payment, the CCSNJ remains concerned that maintaining this level of long-term growth in spending will be impossible without future tax increases that will undoubtedly fall on the backs of the state’s business community. The final FY2023 budget, combined with the Governor’s and Legislature’s lack of action to defer Unemployment Insurance (UI) tax increases on businesses, ends an incredibly disappointing budget season where New Jersey-based businesses were nothing short of ignored."

 To read the CCSNJ’s testimony on the FY2023 state budget, please click here.