The small business tour throughout New Jersey continued in earnest on Wednesday as we went through Monmouth and Ocean County supporting and highlighting some of Jersey's great family businesses.
Certified Auto Mall is a great business on Route 9 specializing in pre-owned cars and services. Matt gave us a great tour and introduced us to the folks who showed up to greet us.
My message is simple, Trenton no longer (if it ever did) speaks for average New Jerseyans. The elite political class continues to over-borrow, over-spend, and over-tax. Trenton policymakers ignore the basic function of government and continue to line the pockets of special interests.
Average business owners, especially small businesses that employ nearly two million New Jerseyans, get the short end of the stick. We need to do several things from a policy perspective to help create a strong foundation for small businesses in New Jersey to grow and prosper.
First, despite the best efforts of the leading Democrats to hold onto the Corporate Business Tax, we need to cut the tax. In half for most and down to ZERO more many. Any business employing between 1 and 10 people should pay no CBT. Cut the tax and then cut twice the amount of the static tax revenue in the state budget.
Next, create a tax incentive for high school kids to learn skilled trades at our numerous Career Technical Education centers, VoTech for you old schoolers like me! The incentives should be for the job seekers and the small companies who employ them. The money for that will come directly from cutting all higher education subsidies for anyone here illegally and diverting a substantial amount of the current BILLION dollars going to subsidize the now more than $5 Billion Rutgers budget.
As a reminder, while you're struggling to make ends meet, 86 Rutgers employees/professors/coaches made north of a half-million dollars in 2022. In 2021, there were more than 40 who made more than $900,000 dollars in one year, including 29 making north of a MILLION dollars.
Perhaps the most important thing we need to do for small businesses is refocus the government to function properly. Agencies tasked with delivering services to taxpayers need to work.
Department of Labor, Education, Transportation, and Energy all need an overhaul. New management and new accountability.
It's 2023, our roadways should be the best in the nation given the highest-in-the-nation tax burden. Businesses should not be burdened with regulation and bureaucratic burdens that delay expansion and limit profitability. Tax incentives to bring in manufacturing and cut shipping costs and delays on foreign parts would be another huge opportunity for small businesses held hostage by national and international supply chain issues.
These are among the top policy issues that require competent, strong, common-sense leaders to implement.
If you want to stop by one of our events, you can find the schedule HERE.