Tax Abatements

Well my last serious post before X-Mas....
The issue of Tax Abatements has come up over and over again at City Commisson meetings. Its true in the ideal world there would be no need for them and everyone would pay their fair share all the time. In this awful economic climate, its important to remain competitive. In our case the City of Vineland has used Tax Abatements to bring in the Cumberland Mall and its been stated by Vineland officals that they will continue to use tax abatements as a tool for economic development. I think it would be foolhardy to drop our Tax Abatement while Vineland keeps using them. Guess where some businesses would move?? I decided to find out some information on the hard numbers:

The term is PILOT. or Payment in Lieu of Taxes Over the 5 year PILOT for the 10 business the City will collect $14,967.81 more than if the business were paying full taxes. Plus the owner of the land will be paying full taxes on the land
Furthermore I found that over the 5 years the city collects $14,967 more than if it were on the tax rolls. The city also collected $47,288 in added assessments for 2008 before the PILOT starts in 2009. Also a Farmland Assessment (Abatement) saved a city resident $229,025.78 in taxes in 2008. This person paid $7,574.60 on 458.24 acres in 2008. If the land was fully assessed this resident would pay $236,600.38.

This person has opposed any tax abatements for businesses in Millville!!

In today's News of Cumberland County, a business owner
" Lester Didomenico, whose Finish Line Auto Repair shop submitted one of the 10 applications approved on first reading Tuesday, said the practice is necessary.

"I am here, in this city, because of a tax abatement," he said. "It allows me to stay in Millville; it means I get to stay in business."

Good Tax Breaks

I took the liberty of Copying this from Millville's Favorate Blogger!!
This is an enconomic TREAT and not a trick

Verizon Tax Breaks
In not so bad news - the State Economic Development Authority authorized a ten-year, $20 million tax break for Verizon in New Jersey.
What this tax break does is keep Verizon, and jobs, in NJ. If you believe the hacks at Millville First, you would think that all tax incentives are completely unnecessary.
Of course, most of them are retired and receiving government pensions (not too many have ever worked in the private sector) and of course, do not need jobs. And that is not to mention that many of them also are on the receiving end of state and public monies, and are the first in line to grab every new “hand-out”.
If you were a MF’er, the first thing you would do is get your adding machine out and scream that the taxpayers are subsidizing 712 jobs at a cost of $28,089.89 per job.
The actual cost is less than $2,090 per year per job. It keeps a major corporation in the state. It keeps a viable business operating in a depressed area, which will encourage other businesses to locate there in the future. It creates some new jobs at Verizon, and guarantees that the building will see millions in dollars of private investment in renovations, hence creating construction jobs.
This beats the alternatives: construction workers sitting at home during a lax economy, not able to earn; skilled ex-Verizon employees standing in the unemployment line; sending those jobs over to Pennsylvania.