Inganamort proposes amendment requiring New Jersey to disclose full cost of taxes and regulations to businesses
TRENTON, N.J. — Assemblyman Michael Inganamort on Thursday proposed an amendment to the Democrats’ “tariff transparency act” that would require the State of New Jersey to calculate and disclose for each business the total annual cost of all state taxes, fees and regulations.
The bill, as drafted, would require retail businesses to list the cost of tariffs alongside their prices. Inganamort said his amendment would expand the scope of the legislation by shifting the responsibility for calculating costs from businesses to the state.
“In the interest of transparency, the word transparency is in the bill’s name after all,” Inganamort (R-Sussex, Morris, Warren) remarked, “if the cost of one tax is important, then the cost of all taxes are important. Except the onus should not be on the businesses paying those costs, it should be on the government imposing them.”
Under the amendment, New Jersey would provide each business with a breakdown of the cost of every applicable tax, fee and regulation, along with a total. Businesses would then be required to display the following statement annually:
“OUR PRICES WOULD BE LOWER IF THE STATE DID NOT CHARGE US $[TOTAL AMOUNT]. SEE HOW IT ALL ADDS UP: [LIST OF EVERY TAX, FEE AND REGULATORY COST].”
Inganamort said residents have faced 196 total increases over the past eight years totaling more than $22.2 billion. “That to me is just as important as the impact of tariffs,” he said.
According to Inganamort, the figure includes 142 enacted cost increases amounting to about $21.05 billion, as well as 54 automatic increases estimated to cost at least $1.16 billion.
