Dear Editor:
In am writing this letter to express my opposition to Mayor Bloomberg’s ill-conceived commuter tax. While this tax will unfairly impose an economic burden on all New Jersey residents who commute to NYC for employment, it will have a more pronounced effect on our city’s residents because of the large number of people who work across the Hudson in NYC.
This week our State Legislature and our Governor in a show of bi-partisan unity stood in opposition to Mayor Bloomberg’s commuter tax plan. In the Governor’s statement, Governor McGreevey noted that New Jersey citizens sent upwards of $630 million to New York State through sales taxes. Additionally, our state pays almost $1.3 billion in income taxes every 12 months.
Earlier this week, I urged the Mayor and City Council to stand against this tax. While our objection to this commuter tax may only have symbolic meaning, it should serve as a wake-up call to our city’s leadership to pursue our own economic opportunities by persuading companies to relocate to our great city. We should continue to look toward making the City of Hoboken more attractive to business enterprises that are poised to relocate from NYC’s overly burdensome tax policies.
Christopher Campos
Fourth Ward Councilman