LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE TO


ASSEMBLY, No. 1261


STATE OF NEW JERSEY


DATED: May 15, 1996


 

      Assembly Bill No. 1261 of 1996 amends the provision of the "New Jersey Gross Income Tax Act" governing the amount that a taxpayer may elect to contribute from the person's State income tax liability to the "Gubernatorial Elections Fund", which is the fund from which moneys are paid to support public financing for qualified primary and general election candidates for the office of Governor. The bill would replace the current single contribution option of $1 with three alternative levels of contribution, $1, $3, and $5.

      The bill also provides for future adjustments in those checkoff options to reflect the increase in the cost of living. Computation of the amount of the increase would be done quadrennially on the same schedule as applies to the calculation of the cost-of-living adjustments currently applicable to other amounts under the gubernatorial campaign finance statute; the actual checkoff amount would be set by rounding the adjusted figure so computed to the nearest whole dollar amount.

      The bill would take effect on the January 1 following enactment and be applicable to the taxes due for the year of enactment.

      During the previous legislative session, the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) provided fiscal information on Assembly, No. 1872 (1R) of 1994, which is an earlier version of A-1261. ELEC estimated that there would be no fiscal impact on the commission if the bill became law. There would, however, be an impact on the Gubernatorial Elections Fund, which currently generates approximately $1.5 million per year. ELEC figured that the amount of money contributed to the fund would increase fivefold, or $7.5 million per year, if the current number of taxpayers continue to select the checkoff. (These calculations were based on the original bill, which simply increased the checkoff to $5.)

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) concurred with the assessment of A-1875, but noted that the bill as amended permitted three possible contribution levels rather than one. Also, the number of taxpayers selecting the checkoff has declined steadily since its introduction and will probably continue to do so. As a result, the amount of money generated for the fund by the checkoff per year and over time may be less than estimated by ELEC.

      OLS takes the same position on A-1261 as it did on A-1875.

      The legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.

 

This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.