On December 9, 2015, New Jersey’s then republican governor Chris Christie signed a new law into effect, co-sponsored by four state democrats, which cut the sales tax on boats by 50%, from 7% to 3.5%, while capping the total sales tax collected at $20,000. Aimed at making New Jersey competitive with other Atlantic states, this bipartisan effort seemed to work as boat sales in the Garden State outperformed national trends in the 4 years that followed.
The primary issue for marine related businesses in New Jersey was that larger sportfishing boats in particular were being bought and registered in these other ‘tax friendly’ states, thus the bill’s sponsors in Trenton hoped that by capping the sales tax at $20,000, similar to Florida and New York, more boats would be bought, registered, operated and serviced in the Garden State, in turn prompting more economic output.
A ‘cap’ on the biggest, most expensive boats became a primary sticking point with the original legislation, prompting a conditional veto by Governor Christie following the bill’s passage in both the senate and assembly. Looking over my old notes, the republican governor used his conditional veto feeling that the legislation didn’t apply broadly enough to boat sales in lower price ranges, and thus the senate and assembly, through a series of checks and balances, went back and amended the bill in order to get it across the goal-line.
The golden era of bipartisanship and common sense is over, seemingly replaced by choosing sides, democrat or republican, and passionately cheering on the home team from the nosebleed seats with faces painted and fists clenched ready to strike down with great vengeance and furious anger upon those attempting to poison and destroy their brothers. Ezekiel aside, if you’re wearing the blue jersey with MURPHY emblazoned across the shoulders, you’re rooting for a quarterback who can’t get the ball past midfield.
For the second time since becoming governor – mind you, the first elected office the man’s ever held – Governor Phil Murphy is again trying to repeal the Boat Sales Tax Cap and Reduction in his FY2026 Budget. His earlier attempt to gut this tax cap and reduction was defeated in 2020, and New Jersey’s trade association for the marine industry and its customers hopes the governor will be forced to punt again.
According to the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey, the Murphy administration believes that repealing the tax cap will generate more revenue for the state. “Unfortunately, their position does not take into account that if the boat sales tax cap and reduction is repealed, less boats will be sold and registered in the state of New Jersey,” said executive director Melissa Danko. “Not only will the sales tax revenue be lost but also all of the revenue from the purchase of accessories, services and maintenance,” she added.
In my opinion, the same Murphy administration that stopped using the word Division in Division of Fish & Wildlife – ostensibly because the word “division” is literally divisive by definition – has become the most politically polarizing in my 23 years covering New Jersey fisheries. Yet go back a few more years into the 90s and you’ll see the unintended nonpartisan consequences of blindly refusing to see all sides.
In 1990, republican President George HW Bush signed a “luxury tax” into law as part of a deficit-reduction package, ultimately discouraging high-end boat purchases and leading to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs as boat sales plummeted by over 70% nationwide. New Jersey’s high end boat builders like Viking and Henriques were hit especially hard as sales decreased 87% with employment falling 89%. The wealthy stopped buying, the lower and middle class stopped building, simple economics. Ironically, it took a democrat named Clinton to undo the damage inflicted by a republican Bush.
Read my lips Governor, it’s the economy, stupid!
