DeCROCE: PAID LEAVE LEGISLATION WILL END UP HURTING NEW JERSEY FAMILIES

BILL DESIGNED TO ‘HELP’ FAMILIES INCREASES TAX BURDEN WHILE CHASING MORE JOBS FROM NEW JERSEY 

As New Jersey families continue to face a financial crisis spurred by an excessive tax burden and continuing job losses, Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce said that the decision by Governor Jon Corzine to sign paid family leave legislation will only end up hurting the very working and middle class families its sponsors had hoped to help.

“This law will hurt New Jersey families by depriving them of the income and the job opportunities our state desperately needs at a time when household budgets are already strained to the breaking point,” said DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. “Any legislation adding to our state’s tax burden while impeding job growth is inevitably going to hurt New Jersey families struggling to make ends meet.”

The paid family leave bill will create a new payroll tax on every New Jersey worker, while imposing significant costs on the state’s business – likely resulting in an even more dismal job growth climate than the state already faces.

In the first two months of 2008, New Jersey lost 10,400 private sector jobs as New Jersey employers such as Merrill Lynch are laying off thousands of employees. Schering Plough recently announced the elimination of 500 jobs in Kenilworth, while Teva Pharmaceuticals based in Northvale is looking to lay off 155 employees this month.

Economists at the Rutgers Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy recently released data showing that New Jersey was among the ten worst states in creating private sector jobs, trailing far behind states like New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut in creating private employment opportunities.

“These job loss numbers are not just statistics on a piece of paper,” DeCroce said. “These job losses affect real people. It is our neighbors, friends, and family who are suffering as they lose these jobs.”

“Governor Corzine can talk all he wants about helping families, but when he signs legislation like this, it is counterproductive,” DeCroce concluded. “This law will cost our state more jobs and with them the paychecks our residents rely on to support their families.”

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