Effective March 1, 2000, the New Jersey Legislature created a Sales and Use Tax Review Commission to evaluate and report on proposed legislation that would either expand or contract the base of the New Jersey Sales and Use Tax Law. Thus, for example, if legislation is proposed that would create a new exemption from sales tax, the Commission would be required to review it and report its conclusions to the Legislature.
The Commission is to consist of 10 members-the State Treasurer, three persons from the Executive Branch appointed by the Governor, two persons appointed by the President of the Senate, two persons appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and two persons appointed from the general public by the Governor. The staff of the Division of Taxation will assist the Commission in the performance of its duties.
VIEW BILLS REVIEWED BY THE COMMISSION IN 2000 OR 2001 OR 2002 OR 2003 OR 2004 OR 2005 OR 2006 OR 2007 OR 2008
Next Meeting:
Public
Participation:
If
you are interested on commenting on any of the bills to be discussed,
please complete the "Request
for permission to make oral comments"
form and mail it to:
New
Jersey Division of Taxation
Susan C. Greitz, Commission Secretary
PO Box 269
Trenton, NJ 08695-0269
The Commission's duties involve obtaining a fiscal impact determination and providing a brief policy analysis concerning proposed legislation that would affect the base to which the New Jersey Sales and Use Tax law would apply. Within 90 days after the introduction of such legislation, the Commission is required to provide its recommendation to the New Jersey Legislature on the proposed legislation.
Over
time, public finance experts have identified a variety of characteristics
that are desirable when constructing a tax system. Not all of those standards
are directly pertinent to the work of the Commission. For example, "revenue
adequacy" will not commonly be an issue that is addressed by the Commission
when considering a particular proposal. Listed
below are some characteristics of tax systems that may be helpful in considering
proposals before the Commission.
EQUITY:
The standard of Equity requires that the legislation
be designed to fairly distribute the tax burden among the potential universe
of taxpayers so that each taxpayer bears a fair share of that burden. To do
so, the legislation should have both Horizontal Equity and Vertical Equity,
as either may apply.
Horizontal Equity mandates that sales tax legislation be broadly based and taxes all similar transactions, persons or things in a similar manner.
Vertical Equity mandates proportionality among taxpayers according to ability to bear the tax burden.
However, both Horizontal Equity and Vertical Equity can be limited by exemptions from sales tax established by public policy initiatives designed to provide investment incentives or promote social change
SIMPLICITY:
The standard of Simplicity requires that sales tax
legislation be drafted in such a manner to allow retailers to ascertain
their tax collection responsibilities simply by reviewing the provisions
of the proposed legislation itself, without resort to interpretative regulations.
Simplicity is crucial to the effective implementation of sales and use tax
legislation because tens of thousands of retailers are responsible for collecting
tax, and are personally liable for uncollected tax. Due to that potential
personal liability, it is imperative that the legislation give retailers
the confidence that they are collecting the proper amount of tax.
ECONOMIC
NEUTRALITY:
The standard of Economic Neutrality requires that
sales tax legislation have as limited an effect as possible on economic
and financial decisions in order to minimize its impact on an otherwise
efficient marketplace. In addition, the legislation should refrain from
encouraging or subsidizing one segment of the State's economy at the expense
of another.
COST
EFFICIENCY:
The standard of Cost Efficiency requires that the
costs of administration borne by the State and the costs of compliance borne
by retailers be as low as is compatible with the other standards.
New
Jersey Division of Taxation
PO Box 269
Trenton, NJ 08695-0269