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BURZICHELLI: CHRISTIE’S PROPOSED ELIMINATION OF UEZ PROGRAM A TAX INCREASE BY ANY OTHER NAME

Ending Program Would Force a 100-Percent Tax Increase on State’s Urban Residents/i>

(PAULSBORO) — Following the Christie administration’s release of a report calling for the elimination of the state’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) program by the end of fiscal year 2011, Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), whose district includes the Bridgeton UEZ, issued the following statement:

“The report issued by the Christie administration calling for the elimination of the state’s UEZ program amounts to one thing and one thing only: a tax increase on the state’s poorest residents.

“Eliminating the UEZ program amounts to a 100 percent sales tax increase on every urban resident in the state — something few, if any of them can afford. Additionally, many urban small businesses — a majority of which are minority owned — rely on the sales tax breaks offered under the UEZ program to keep from operating in the red. A UEZ elimination will do nothing but stagnate business growth in our cities and harm New Jersey’s economic recovery in the long-run.

“While Gov. Christie is busy attempting to protect the assets of dead millionaires, he is doing so at the direct expense of New Jersey’s urban families and businesses.”