How the New Jersey Legislature almost made a $7 billion tax mistake

Last Thursday, as Democratic lawmakers scrambled to pass a $36.5 billion spending plan in defiance of Gov. Phil Murphy, they also rushed through an inscrutable, 24-page bill meant to raise the corporate tax rate and help balance the budget with about $915 million in new revenue.

Lurking in the legalese and abstruse references to federal tax law, however, was language that would have forced New Jersey’s corporations to pay billions more than intended — as much as $7 billion in one year, according to some estimates.

Lawmakers were made aware of the mistake and immediately started working on a fix. But they went ahead and voted on the faulty bill anyway.

How could that happen? Well, welcome to June in Trenton.

The story of bill A-4202, although it will likely prove inconsequential, sheds a light on how New Jersey’s future laws can be thrown together hastily and with inadequate vetting, especially when the Legislature is running up against deadlines like the end of a fiscal year or a legislative session.

Read more: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/06/27/new-jersey-legislature-7-billion-tax-mistake/735638002/