Bill Text: NJ A2900 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows residents of certain Highlands municipalities to designate on gross income tax returns that a portion of gross income tax paid be returned to municipality of residence.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-28 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee [A2900 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A2900-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JAY WEBBER
District 26 (Essex, Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Allows residents of certain Highlands municipalities to designate on gross income tax returns that a portion of gross income tax paid be returned to municipality of residence.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act allowing residents of certain Highlands municipalities to designate on gross income tax returns that a portion of gross income tax paid be returned to municipality of residence, supplementing chapter 9 of Title 54A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established in the Department of the Treasury a revolving and non-lapsing special fund to be known as the "NJ Highlands Tax Fairness Fund."
b. A taxpayer who is a resident of an eligible municipality as determined by the county/municipal code on the taxpayer's gross income tax return may designate on the taxpayer's New Jersey gross income tax return that a portion of the taxpayer's gross income tax due for the taxable year be deposited in the special fund. The portion shall be ten percent of the balance of tax due after credit for income taxes paid to other jurisdictions.
An eligible municipality shall be a municipality in which 95 percent or more of the land area is within the Highlands preservation area designated in P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-1 et seq.).
c. Any costs incurred by the Division of Taxation for collection or administration attributable to this section may be deducted from receipts collected pursuant to this section, as determined by the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting. The State Treasurer shall deposit net designations collected pursuant to this section into the "NJ Highlands Tax Fairness Fund."
d. (1) The Legislature shall annually appropriate all funds deposited in the "NJ Highlands Tax Fairness Fund," established pursuant to this section, to the municipalities of residence of the taxpayers who made the designations.
(2) Funds appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be distributed to the eligible municipalities in direct proportion to the amount deposited into the fund by residents of the respective municipalities. The funds distributed pursuant to this section shall be designated as municipal aid and be used solely and exclusively by each municipality for the purpose of reducing the amount the municipality is required to raise by local property tax levy for municipal purposes.
e. Funds appropriated under subsection d. of this section shall be in addition to any other State aid that an eligible municipality is entitled to receive and shall not be used to offset aid from any other program or fund.
2. This act shall take
effect immediately and apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1
next following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the "NJ Highlands Tax Fairness Fund" and provides for a designation on the State gross income tax return to allow taxpayers in certain municipalities in the Highlands in the northern part of the State to indicate that ten percent of their income tax be returned to their municipality of residence.
The money in the fund would be appropriated and returned to eight municipalities which are 95 percent or more within the Highland's preservation zone, pursuant to the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-1 et seq.). This refunded amount must be used to directly reduce property taxes of residents. Further, aid received by an eligible municipality from the "NJ Highlands Tax Fairness Fund" would be in addition to any other State aid received by the municipality and could not be used to offset aid from another State program.
The restrictions of the Highlands Act fall hard on the eight watershed host municipalities where no development is permitted. These municipalities are prevented from improving their ratables base to control and reduce property taxes. An additional burden on the resident taxpayers is lost property values.
The eight municipalities are Bloomsbury Borough. Byram Township, Califon Borough, Glen Gardner Borough, Kinnelon Borough, Lebanon Township, Ringwood Borough and West Milford Township.
The Highlands yields approximately 379 million gallons of water daily and is a vital source of drinking water for over five million residents of New Jersey.
