the governor is proposing another record high budget for the state roughly 56 billion dollars in spending that'll now get vetted by the public and lawmakers through a series of public hearings closed door meetings and political horse trading before getting the legislator's approval by June 30th Governor Murphy wants more money for education to fund the public worker pension system and continue property tax relief programs and he's proposing a few new tax and fee hikes to pay for it all most notably what the administration is calling a corporate Transit fee it's a tax on New Jersey's largest businesses to fund New Jersey Transit as senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports critics concede it stopped short of Reviving a similar corporate business tax but it sure looks a whole lot like it today we are proposing a corporate Transit fee it will provide a dedicated funding stream for NJ Transit at no additional cost to our Working Families Governor Murphy's controversial Transit funding plan got very different reactions Transit Advocates cheered it is hard to overstate how big a deal this is for Transit Riders and for our state as a whole but business reps Jered let's just be honest in what this is Corporate Transit fee it's a tax on large business in the state of New Jersey to break it down Governor Murphy wants to keep NJ Transit from flying off the fiscal rails by imposing a 22% corporate tax search charge on some 600 New Jersey companies that earn $10 million or more a year think Amazon and Walmart the millions raised would be dedicated solely to NJ Transit Advocates claim that's fair this really sets the foundation for a stable agency that year-over-year can depend on funding that comes from frankly the most Equitable Source in our state which is Mega corporations that are asked to pay a modest fee to see huge improvements to our Public Transit Agency there is a logic to this in that companies especially of that size um their customers and their employees depend on transit to get to work to get to their facility and there needs to be some acknowledgement of that relationship the new tax would generate about 860 million in fiscal year 2026 but that's not enough to cover NJ transit's projected $917 million budget shortfall the so-called fiscal cliff but fair hikes could close that Gap and Murphy didn't cancel the agency's proposed 15% Fair hike plan for this July or the 3% annual Fair increases every year afterward that's a lingering sore spot for progressives we should not be balancing New Jersey transit's Budget on the backs of our Riders the fair hike should be rolled back and we should end the raids of New Jersey trans capital budget but many in Jersey's business Community feel deeply betrayed by this Transit funding proposal they point to Governor Murphy's repeated promises to let a corporate business tax search charge Sunset last year the deal's a deal so we said this was a bridge till we get to a better place and we meant it on the other hand it does exacerbate what is a structural deficit that running at the moment we have to be clear about that as well that sirch charge did expire this new one would impact only the corporate Giants but it' be permanent and it's destroyed trust in the Murphy Administration says New Jersey business and industry Association president Michelle sakka When A promise is made and A promise is broken we cannot invest and we cannot predict to the Future to make those Investments so this is not just bad policy when you do a about face three 60 on two weeks notice it's terrible policy New Jersey Chamber of Commerce president and MJ PBS board member Tom braen called it a nightmare scenario that does long-term harm to the state's reputation and the economy there's nothing good about it our positive momentum will immediately pay the price since we'll have the highest business tax in the nation and there's not much Applause from warehouse and Manufacturing businesses in South Jersey which suffer from so-called Transit desert of sparse to no service so not only are they paying for something that really I'd argue isn't their responsibility to pay for but they're also paying for something that they don't have access to or use regularly the governor's budget including this proposal now goes to the legislature for consideration where speaker Craig coughlin's already warned any discussion about increasing corporate taxes must be had with our state's long-term fiscal health and a further commitment to reducing property taxes in mind and truly dedicated funding requires voters to pass an amendment to New Jersey's Constitution buckle up for a long and bumpy ride I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News