NORTH JERSEY — Today, May 15, 2023, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer applauded New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s new campaign to attract New York families and businesses to New Jersey and to push back against New York’s and the MTA’s anti-environment, cash-grabbing $23-a-day Congestion Tax plan. Gottheimer also applauded Senator Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ) new federal legislation to protect Jersey drivers from New York’s $23-a-day Congestion Tax.

Starting today, billboards near NJ-NY crossings will read: PAY A CONGESTION TAX TO SIT IN NYC TRAFFIC? GET OUTTA HERE. Move your business to New Jersey” and “LESS CONGESTION. NO CONGESTION TAX. Move your business to New Jersey. 

“With New York moving full steam ahead with their anti-environment, anti-commuter Congestion Tax, this could be an opportunity to get jobs from New York City to our state. To compete with the rest of the country, working with our state legislators, I’ve proposed a new ‘Stay in Jersey’ tax incentive for businesses that move jobs to Jersey, including opening up satellite offices, and tax credits for businesses that buy Jersey-made products,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “I couldn’t be more excited about the Governor’s new effort, and we’re in lockstep to get more families and new businesses to Jersey. Living and working in Jersey will give you more time with your family, make it easier to get home to see the kids at night, save two and a half hours of commuting time and lost productivity every day, and avoid New York’s $23-a-day Congestion Tax.” 

Gottheimer continued, “I’ve been fighting the MTA’s Congestion Tax plan since 2019, and I look forward to working with Senator Menendez on federal legislation to stop New York from whacking Jersey drivers.”

Gottheimer’ Bipartisan Federal Action to Stop New York and the MTA’s Congestion Tax: 

Gottheimer’s bipartisan Anti-Congestion Tax Act will: 

• Prohibit the U.S. Department of Transportation from awarding any new Capital Investment Grants to MTA projects in New York until drivers from all New Jersey and New York crossings into Manhattan receive exemptions from any Congestion Tax.
• Amend the U.S. tax code to offer commuters a federal tax credit at the end of the year equal to the amount they paid in a Congestion Tax. This will protect both New Jersey and New York drivers.

Gottheimer is leading the bipartisan Make Transportation Authorities Accountable and Transparent Act to require the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct a full audit of the MTA to see how it has spent billions in federal assistance over the past five years. 

Gottheimer has called on MTA leadership to testify under oath before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to give Congress a full accounting of the billions of federal dollars they received during COVID and annually.

Gottheimer is fighting to help residents and families stay in and move to Jersey:

• Gottheimer has proposed a new “Stay in Jersey” tax incentive for businesses that move jobs to Jersey, including opening up satellite offices tax credits for businesses that buy Jersey-made products. By staying and working in Jersey, empty office parks will be filled, workers can avoid commuting for hours every day and spend more time with family, local stores and restaurants will benefit, and New Jersey state and local tax revenue will increase, rather than benefiting New York.

• Gottheimer helped get the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act signed into law to help grow Jersey’s manufacturing jobs base, boost R&D taking place in the state, help accelerate U.S. production of semiconductor chips, and help reduce our reliance on China.

• Gottheimer has fought for and supported legislation for universal child care and paid family leave, to help parents be able to work and support their families and to lower the barrier for making a living in New Jersey.

• Helping Jersey’s small businesses and critical industries navigate approvals and licenses and cut through red tape helps businesses grow — whether in wind and renewable energy, health care, finance, local stores, restaurants, or labor getting shovels in the ground to build roads, bridges, and buildings.

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