TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie has allowed the sales tax people pay at some businesses in five New Jersey cities to nearly double by rejecting a bill that would have reinstated a decades-old tax deal for the urban areas.
The sales tax had long been cut in half for shoppers patronizing businesses participating in the Urban Enterprise Program, which was designed to boost commercial activity in economically depressed areas.
The tax actually went up to the full 6.875 percent state rate on Jan. 1 in five cities — Bridgeton, Camden, Newark, Plainfield, and Trenton — when Christie did not act on a bill that would have extended the program two years.
On Friday, he conditionally vetoed that bill, ensuring that the sales tax will not be cut back in those cities.
Those five cities were the first to expire because they were the first to participate in the program. But there are more than two dozen cities in the state that joined later and still have businesses participating in the UEZ, where you can still take advantage of a cut-in-half sales tax.
Here are the cities, and the date the reduced sales tax is set to expire:
— Asbury Park (lower sales tax expires Sept. 30, 2025)
— Bayonne (Sept. 12, 2022)
— Carteret (March 7, 2026)
— East Orange (June 2, 2027)
— Elizabeth (Nov. 26, 2023)
— Gloucester City (Aug. 15, 2024)
— Guttenberg (May 10, 2027)
— Hillside (May 6, 2027)
— Irvington (May 6, 2027)
— Jersey City (Nov. 26, 2023)
— Lakewood (Oct. 31, 2025)
— Long Branch (Nov. 20, 2025)
— Millville (Sept. 30, 2019)
— Mount Holly (March 7, 2026)
— New Brunswick (Dec. 14, 2024)
— North Bergen (May 17, 2027)
— North Wildwood: October 31, 2022
— Orange (Nov. 26, 2023)
— Passaic (Aug. 23, 2025)
— Paterson (Sept. 1, 2025)
— Pemberton (May 22, 2027)
— Perth Amboy (Oct. 28, 2025)
— Phillipsburg (Oct. 31, 2025)
— Pleasantville (March 7, 2026)
— Roselle Borough (July 16, 2022)
— Union City (April 11, 2026)
— Vineland (Sept. 30, 2019)
— West New York (May 6, 2027)
— West Wildwood (Oct. 31, 2022)
— Wildwood City (Oct. 31, 2022)
— Wildwood Crest (Oct. 31, 2022)
Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook.
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