TRANSFORMING OUR BUSINESS CLIMATE
Restoring New Jersey’s Ability to Compete
TRANSFORMING OUR BUSINESS CLIMATE
For nearly a decade, our state has ranked dead last in the U.S. for business climate, a rating that is driven by our regulations and highest-in-the-nation business taxes. As a result, the state is regularly losing jobs and investments to other states that prioritize growing their economies. The Garden State Initiative promotes reforms that will again make New Jersey an attractive place to open and grow a business.
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50th
Business Climate Ranking
Source: Tax Foundation.
11.5%
Business Tax Rate
Highest business tax rate in the United States.
50th
Entrepreneurship
New Jersey is ranked 50th when it comes to starting a business (WalletHub).
38th
GDP Growth Rank
1.0% in Q1 '23 vs. 2.0% US growth
FEATURED POST
PODCAST: NFIB’s Kean Talks Taxes, Energy and the Importance of Supporting Small Businesses
June 7, 2024
Welcome to the GSI Briefing podcast – hosted by Regina Egea of the Garden State Initiative. In this series, GSI traveled to the State House in Trenton for one-on-one interviews with legislators, business leaders, and members of the press to discuss Governor Murphy’s latest budget proposal and GSI’s recent report, New Jersey’s Fiscal Cliff Explained. In this episode, Regina is joined by Eileen Kean, the State Director for the…
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THE LATEST WORK ON TRANSFORMING OUR BUSINESS CLIMATE
PODCAST: NFIB’s Kean Talks Taxes, Energy and the Importance of Supporting Small Businesses
June 7, 2024
Welcome to the GSI Briefing podcast – hosted by Regina Egea of the Garden State Initiative. In this series, GSI traveled to the State…
PODCAST: Tom Bracken on the Consequences of NJ’s Rising Corporate Business Tax
March 29, 2024
Welcome to the GSI Briefing podcast – hosted by Regina Egea, President of the Garden State Initiative. In this series, GSI traveled…
PODCAST: Chris Emigholz of NJBIA on Governor’s budget plan and how revisions to this plan could help get New Jersey back on track
March 23, 2024
Welcome to the GSI Briefing podcast – hosted by Regina Egea, President of the Garden State Initiative. In this series, GSI travelled…
PODCAST: Business Outlook 2024
January 26, 2024
Welcome to the GSI Briefing podcast – hosted by Regina Egea, President of the Garden State Initiative. In this episode, Regina is…
NJ adds 12K jobs in December, nearly 70K total in 2023
January 19, 2024
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development released its December 2023 jobs report Thursday, showing the state gained…
New Jersey’s small businesses need more support from Trenton. This is why | Opinion
June 16, 2023
It’s a fact that small businesses are the backbone of New Jersey’s economy. According to data from the U.S. Small…
2023 Annual William E. Simon Economic Policy Forum
April 27, 2023
GSI's Annual William E. Simon Economic Policy Forum was held on Wednesday, May 3rd in New Brunswick. Click below to…
A Simple Plan to Get New Jersey Back on Track for Growth
April 13, 2023
How do you turn one of the most prosperous places in the world into an economic and fiscal basket case?…
GSI’s Regina Egea on Lowering CBT: “A Stimulative Tax Reduction”
March 27, 2023
On this past weekend's edition of NJBIA's “Minding Your Business” on News 12+, Garden State Initiative founder and president Regina…
Making a state-ment: Why following N.C. model could spur economic growth in N.J.
March 23, 2023
Patrick Delle Cava is the business manager for IBEW Local 102; Audrey Lane is the policy director for the Garden…
Phil Murphy finds unlikely allies over corporate taxes. But they say he needs to do more now
March 14, 2023
Facing pushback from progressive supporters over corporate tax rates, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has found unlikely allies in the conservative…
NJ state budget: This is why Democrats ‘do not want drama’
March 7, 2023
With an address outlining his proposed budget for New Jersey's fiscal year 2024, Gov. Phil Murphy has handed off the…
Business leaders welcome NJ budget proposal, but concerns linger
March 6, 2023
“From my first day in office I rejected the false choice that you are either for business or for hard-working…
GSI’s Regina Egea Talks Business & Economy on “New Jersey Politics”
January 24, 2023
GSI's Regina Egea appeared on the January 22nd edition of "New Jersey Politics with Laura Jones" for a wide ranging…
Virtual Event: Economic Earthquake – Pennsylvania’s Dramatic Tax Cuts & What It Means for New Jersey
September 29, 2022
PODCAST: Economic Volatility is Creating Political Volatility – The 2022 Outlook
June 21, 2022
Welcome to the GSI Briefing podcast – hosted by Regina Egea, President of the Garden State Initiative. This episode features Dan Clifton’s presentation from…
GSI’s Egea Talks Gas Prices and NJ’s Economy on New Jersey Now
June 14, 2022
Is there any hope relief at the pump for New Jersey drivers? GSI's Regina Egea discussed that and takeaways from…
NJ.com: New unemployment claims tick up in N.J. despite nationwide drop
May 7, 2021
By Sophie Nieto-MunozNew Jersey is experiencing a rise in new unemployment filings even as new applications are falling across the…
Center Square NJ: New Jersey adds 20,800 jobs, but numbers remain below the pre-pandemic level
April 19, 2021
By Todd DeFeo(The Center Square) – New Jersey employers added 20,800 jobs in March, the largest gain in six months,…
NJ Biz: Weekly NJ jobless claims drop 45% as unemployment rate stalls for months
April 16, 2021
By Daniel MunozNew week-to-week jobless claims in New Jersey amid the pandemic nearly halved as the state’s unemployment rate stubbornly…
USA Today Network: Protect our lower wage New Jersey workers and their jobs
March 30, 2021
The following op-ed appeared in New Jersey publications of the USA Today Network on March 29, 2021. By Regina M.…
NorthJersey.com: Why New Jersey’s old unemployment computer system remains a problem, frustrating applicants
March 1, 2021
By Stacey BarchengerWhen Anthony Williams called an automated phone line to get his unemployment benefits in December, the robotic voice…
Center Square NJ: New Jersey unemployment falls to 7.6% as workers leave workforce
January 22, 2021
By Todd DeFeo(The Center Square) – New Jersey’s unemployment rate fell by 2.6 percentage points to 7.6% in December, but…
Center Square NJ: New Jersey’s unemployed continuing to have trouble finding jobs
December 21, 2020
By Kim Jarrett(The Center Square) – New Jersey’s unemployment rate returned to double digits in November, increasing 2.2 percentage points…
NJ.com: To keep Nabisco, others in N.J. we can’t continue business as usual
December 13, 2020
By Regina M. EgeaWhen presented with the news that Mondelez, was considering closing its Fair Lawn factory and moving 600 jobs out of…
NJ.com: To keep Nabisco, others in N.J. we can’t continue business as usual
December 8, 2020
By Regina M. EgeaWhen presented with the news that Mondelez, was considering closing its Fair Lawn factory and moving 600 jobs out of…
ROI-NJ: ‘Other states are taking notice of N.J.’s lousy business climate and are trying to pilfer our businesses and jobs’
November 17, 2020
By BettyLou DeCroce and Patrick Delle CavaNew Jersey Assemblyman John McKeon (D-West Orange), chair of the Financial Institutions Committee, recently…
Center Square NJ: After years of draining unemployment insurance fund, New Jersey lawmakers scramble to slow $1 billion tax hike on businesses
October 29, 2020
By Todd DeFeo(The Center Square) – A proposal to slow the implementation of a $1 billion unemployment insurance (UI) payroll tax increase…
NJTV: August ’20 Jobs Report
August 3, 2020
In an interview with NJTV News’ Business Correspondent Rhonda Schaffler, GSI’s president Regina Egea discusses our analysis of New Jersey’s…
Hugin: Let’s Bring Pharma Manufacturing Back to New Jersey
May 5, 2020
GSI’s Board Chairman Bob Hugin, a former Chairman and CEO of Celgene Corporation, appeared on Monday’s edition of The Joe…
NJ Spotlight: Unemployment Rate Continues to Drop, but NJ’s Economic Indicators Are Complicated
October 24, 2019
While New Jersey’s unemployment rate has been steadily dropping over the last six months, the state has also shed thousands…
NJ Spotlight: NJ’S MINIMUM WAGES RISES TO $10 TODAY IN FIRST STEP TOWARD $15
July 1, 2019
Today more than 200,000 New Jerseyans are getting a raise to $10 an hour, the first in the state’s multi-year…
ROI-NJ.com: GSI forum offers some ‘uncomfortable truths’ of doing business in N.J.
May 13, 2019
State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon was measured in his tone but precise in his words.Speaking at Garden State Initiative’s second annual Economic…
Press of Atlantic City: NJ rapidly making its bad business climate worse
May 31, 2018
"Now that they have the governorship as well as control of the Legislature, the state’s Democrats have wasted no time…
Washington Post: Gerber moving headquarters to Arlington, Va., from New Jersey
April 17, 2018
Gerber, the baby-products giant, is moving its corporate headquarters from Florham Park to Northern Virginia, writes Patricia Sullivan. The move…
‘You can’t tax your way to prosperity,’ writes GSI in The Wall Street Journal
October 20, 2017
No matter what this year’s gubernatorial candidates may say, painless solutions to New Jersey’s fiscal challenges don’t exist. The state’s…