Assemblyman Troy Singleton (D-Burlington), lead sponsor of a bill to improve reporting and disclosure requirements on state tax expenditures and impose a seven-year limit on the duration of new state tax expenditure enactments (A-939), issued the following statement Monday in response to the governor’s conditional veto of the measure:
“While I will give careful consideration to the governor’s veto of my proposal to bring increased transparency and accountability to government operations, I must admit that I am deeply disappointed in his actions, to say the least.
“State tax expenditures and preferences are intended to benefit the public by encouraging investment, job creation and economic development, and the state has a fundamental duty to ensure that they achieve these ends. This bill sought to assure taxpayers that this duty is not taken lightly.
“As it was all throughout the process of drafting this legislation originally, our responsibility to make sure hardworking New Jersey families can track their tax dollars will remain our first priority as members of the legislature thoroughly and thoughtfully review the governor’s recommendations.”