Top New Jersey Democrats propose sales tax for shore rentals to balance state budget

New Jersey lawmakers Wednesday delivered Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy a counteroffer in budget negotiations, including a proposal to add a sales tax on short-term rental properties along the shore.

Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney unveiled the proposal days ahead of Saturday’s budget deadline alongside other Democratic state senators in the Statehouse. He said Democratic Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin is behind the proposal. Murphy, a fellow Democrat, declined to comment, according to his office.

State legislators in Atlantic and Cape May counties, both Republicans and Democrats, blasted the proposal and said they would never support a tax on short-term rentals that could hurt shore towns..

“They just don’t get it. It’s hard enough for working families and retirees to afford to live in New Jersey,” state Sen. Chris Brown, R-Atlantic, said in a statement. “As if raising the income tax, corporate business tax and sales tax while cutting the homestead rebate wasn’t bad enough to make New Jersey less competitive and harder to afford, the latest scheme to tax summer rentals is counterproductive and will hit South Jersey working families and retirees the hardest.”

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