Jon Corzine’s budget will raise taxes on small businesses.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate is higher now than at any point in the last 16 years. Despite this, Corzine will extend a 4% surcharge on New Jersey businesses. Taxing our small businesses will only cause more jobs to be lost. In these tough times, we should be attracting businesses and high-paying jobs to our state, not driving them away.

Corzine’s $30 billion budget would target small business owners who create jobs and increase payroll taxes — just as losing jobs.

“[Corzine's budget] would also extend the 4 percent corporate business tax surcharge that was set to expire [and] increase payroll taxes on employers.”

– Philadelphia Business Journal, March 10, 2009

It’s no wonder 126,700 New Jersey jobs have been lost since January 2008. New Jersey already has the worst business climate in the country — and Corzine’s tax hikes would make it worse.

New Jersey is losing jobs — with no end in sight:

Since peaking in January 2008, total employment in New Jersey, both public and private, has fallen by 126,700 jobs to 3,968,100, a drop of 3 percent. About two-thirds of that loss has come in the past five months.

– New Jersey Business and Industry Association, March 27, 2009

New Jersey had the worst business climate of any state, according to an October 2008 study by the Tax Foundation — and this was before Corzine’s latest proposed tax increases:

“The ten worst states are…”

#50: New Jersey

– 2009 State Business Tax Climate Index, The Tax Foundation