Sales Tax Caps on Boat Purchases “A Matter of Business”

To the Editor: 
As a New Jersey resident inside the boating industry, the bill (S-2784) had to be passed and signed. 
No new tax break was created for the rich. The rich got their tax break as soon as Florida passed their sales tax cap, signed by former Governor Charlie Crist, a Democrat, it became almost impossible to sell a yacht in New Jersey.  Those who have a choice of where to buy their boat have stopped buying in New Jersey.
Think about it. Imagine you are rich (I’m imagining, too). You are finally able to purchase a $3 million yacht.  If you buy that yacht in your home state of New Jersey, the sales tax is $210,000, but if you buy that boat in Florida, you will pay just $18,000.  Where are you buying your boat, honestly?  The past years have shown what most folks would do; buy in Florida and save $192,000 dollars.
The boat buyer can avoid the $192,000 forever, as long as the boat never returns to New Jersey. So we not only lose the initial sale, we lose the service, the summer dockage, and the secondary sales of restaurants and gift shops.  We lose a lot when people who are capable of spending money are not allowed to bring their boats to New Jersey.
In the past few years, Maryland and New York have both implemented comparable sales tax caps to bring their boaters home, signed by former Governor O’Malley and Governor Cuomo, both Democrats, and it has worked for them.  New Jersey needed to follow suit.
This is not a Democrat/Republican issue. This is not a gift to the rich. This is a matter of business.  This is not going to cost the state money; this is going to make the state money. Yes, the sales tax rate is going down and will be capped on the boat itself, but we are gaining corporate taxes, labor taxes, full sales tax on ancillary sales, etc.  These are the rewards of repatriating boats and boaters.
This is the piece that NJ Policy Perspective has never addressed. This bill has always been attempting to address a problem – New Jersey is losing revenue due to more favorable tax climates in other states.  We are faced with two options, get competitive or tell the boating industry you don’t care.  The naysayers on this bill never offered an alternate option.  If you think this is a bad bill, what would have been your pitch to get people to buy their boats in New Jersey?
In truth, I hate this bill.  I hate special carve outs from the tax code.  I hate thinking that everyone isn’t paying their fair share. Using tax policy as social policy is a dangerous, slippery slope.  But New Jersey did not start this; New Jersey did not set the precedent.  That is on Florida.  The only question that remained for the New Jersey Legislature and governor was whether or not they were willing to stand up and protect our industry, to give us a level playing field and let us compete. They did that, and I am grateful.
To my colleagues in other states – watch out, we are coming to get our customers back!