Bill > A3621

Introduced Session

This bill provides gross income tax and corporation business tax credits for qualified business expenses incurred by businesses that cultivate marijuana located in UEZ, establishes a five year pilot program, called the "New Jersey Green Development and Growth Program," which authorizes credits against the New Jersey gross income tax or corporation business tax, in an amount equal to 25 percent of qualified business expenses, available to a business that operates a marijuana cultivation facility located in a current or formerly-designated Urban Enterprise Zone. The bill provides that the total value of the amount of tax credits available to businesses to be applied against a gross income tax and corporation business tax liability for a tax year is not to exceed an aggregate annual limit of $6 million. Each individual taxpayer, or business paying the corporation business tax, is allowed a total of $500,000 in tax credits to be taken over a period up to five tax years, but no more than $250,000 per tax year. If the amount of tax credits applied for exceeds the aggregate annual limit of $6 million, a taxpayer who has applied for but has not been allowed a tax credit amount because the annual limit has been reached is then allowed, in the order in which the applications have been submitted, their approved amount of tax credits on the first day of the next succeeding year in which tax credits are issued and are not in excess of the amount of credits available. A taxpayer may carry forward the amount of any unused credits up to a period of five years, though the taxpayer may not reduce its gross income tax liability to an amount less than zero or an amount below the corporation business tax statutory minimum provided by subsection (e) of N.J.S.A.54:10A-5. The term "qualified business expense" is defined in the bill to mean those costs incurred by a business, located in an area that is presently, or formerly was, designated an Urban Enterprise Zone, pursuant to N.J.S.A.52:27H-60 et seq., related to the installation, operation, and maintenance of a marijuana cultivation facility. The Executive Director of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (the "EDA"), in consultation with the Department of Law and Public Safety and the Department of the Treasury, is required to promulgate rules and regulations to further define the scope of "qualified business expense," as well as the scope of the term "marijuana cultivation facility." In order to be eligible to receive tax credits pursuant to this pilot program, a business is required to submit an application to the EDA. The EDA is required to establish procedures and criteria to be evaluated in the application, but at a minimum the application is required to demonstrate that the business will create full-time jobs; utilize abandoned property or property in need of rehabilitation; and implement community safeguards. Within 60 days after an application is received, the authority is required to make a determination as to whether the applicant qualifies for the pilot program. Each year, the EDA is required to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature that evaluates the effectiveness of the pilot program. The effective date of this bill is contingent upon the enactment into law of an act legalizing the possession, personal use, sale, cultivation, and distribution of marijuana for purposes other than medicinal.

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Annette Quijano (D)*,  Benjie Wimberly (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee (on 03/12/2018)