Bill > A657

Introduced Session

This bill expands eligibility under the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Act (UTHTCA) by broadening certain municipal qualifier provisions. During the 2006-2007 Session the Legislature passed UTHTCA as a mechanism to catalyze economic development. As originally enacted, UTHTCA provided tax credits for qualified business facilities within urban transit hubs located in municipalities meeting certain criteria. This bill amends the municipal qualifier provisions so that any municipality with a commuter rail station satisfies the requirements to be considered an "eligible municipality." The intent behind broadening the definition of "eligible municipality" is to expand the scope wherein the tax credit can induce economic development. Under UTHTCA, a business that makes $75,000,000 of capital investment in a qualified business facility within an urban transit hub and that employs at least 250 people at the facility may qualify for a tax credit equal to the qualified capital investment. The credit may be applied against corporation business tax, insurance premiums tax or gross income tax liability. UTHTCA also enables a tenant located in a qualified business facility to take advantage of a similar credit, under certain circumstances and limitations. For a business facility to qualify under UTHTCA, it must be located in a urban rail transit hub that is within a municipality that is eligible for urban aid and has at least 30 percent of its real property value exempt from property taxes. According to the New Jersey Office of Economic Growth, as UTHTCA was originally enacted nine municipalities would meet that criteria. By broadening the municipal qualifier provisions to include any municipality with a commuter rail station, this bill is designed to widen the scope of tax credit eligibility to encourage economic development in and beyond nine municipalities. Accordingly, this bill also removes the word "urban" from the title of the UTHTCA so that it is read as the Transit Hub Tax Credit Act.

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Nancy Muñoz (R)*,  John DiMaio (R),  David Rible (R),  David Wolfe (R), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee (on 01/27/2016)