Press of Atlantic City: High NJ tax incentives are a symptom of bad state governance

Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign to reform New Jersey’s tax incentives for businesses, after almost two years, seems to have reached the negotiation phase. He and fellow Democrats leading the Legislature are seeking agreement on a new program of tax breaks for businesses, after Murphy let the prior two programs expire last June.

Murphy’s latest proposal is for an overall cap on the amount of incentives one corporation could get. This from the governor who supported offering Amazon $7 billion in tax credits — $2 billion more than Amazon planned to spend on the headquarters being sought. Legislative leaders say a hard cap is out, but maybe a flexible cap would be possible.

Murphy has a task force looking into past tax breaks, especially those granted by or benefiting his foes in the Democratic Party. The Legislature is holding hearings on the tax-credit program and experts recently floated ideas for improvement.

Read the full editorial here.