Kyrillos: Trenton Must Listen to Pleas of Discouraged Business Owners

Senator Joe Kyrillos, senior Republican on the Senate Economic Growth Committee, noted the New Jersey Business and Industry Association’s annual survey of current economic conditions shows business owners don’t believe that recovery will come in 2010. More importantly, survey respondents gave “record low marks to New Jersey as a place for expansion of their business facilities.”

“It’s time for Trenton to listen and respond to the pleas of the beleaguered business owners that New Jersey depends on to create jobs and economic growth,” Kyrillos said. “Business owners not only expect no growth in 2010 – business people are saying that New Jersey is a bad place to grow if they could expand.”

Just 11 percent of survey respondents say New Jersey is a good place for expansion of business facilities, down from 50 percent nine years ago and a high of 67 percent in 1987. A whopping 52 percent of business owners said New Jersey is a poor place to expand, up from just 9 percent in 2001.

“Business owners aren’t saying that New Jersey is a bad place to grow because of the recession,” Kyrillos said. “Big majorities say New Jersey is the worst place for taxes and fees, government spending, labor costs, regulation and anti-business sentiment.

“Governor-elect Christie won office because he promised to remove the record-high taxes, unnecessary regulations and bureaucratic obstacles that have depressed private sector job growth for the past eight years. Trenton needs to hear and respond to the pleas of our state’s business owners, and help Chris Christie restore the Garden State to economic prosperity.”