Statement

Gov. Murphy’s NJ Transit Funding Proposal Would Put Agency Back on Track


New surcharge on corporate profits would provide NJ Transit with its first-ever dedicated source of state funding.

Published on Feb 27, 2024 in Climate, Tax and Budget

Later today, Governor Murphy will announce the first-ever dedicated source of funding for NJ Transit: A new Corporate Transit Fee of 2.5 percent on corporations with more than $10 million in annual profit. The tax is a scaled-down version of the Corporation Business Tax surcharge on corporations with more than $1 million in annual profit. The new tax is estimated to generate $800 million in annual revenue. Last year, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) published a report on the benefits of using the corporate surcharge as a dedicated source of funding for NJ Transit, which remains the only transit agency of its kind without dedicated public funding. In response to the new proposal to fund NJ Transit, NJPP releases the following statement.

Alex Ambrose, Policy Analyst:

“It’s hard to overstate how big of a deal this is for transit riders and the state as a whole. The governor’s proposal would finally provide stable, dedicated funding to an agency that’s never had it, setting a strong foundation to protect NJ Transit now and in the future. This is exactly the type of thinking needed to get NJ Transit back on track, and it’s long past time that big corporations pay for the infrastructure that helps them generate their record-breaking profits. At the same time, we can’t forget that riders are staring down a potential double-digit fare hike, and the agency is still raiding its capital budget, so there’s a strong argument for bringing back the full corporate surcharge to spare commuters from shouldering that burden.”

Read NJPP’s report, Getting Back on Track: Fully Fund NJ Transit by Taxing Big Corporations.

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