Despite the fact that Atlantic City authorities are trying their best to provide the struggling casinos as well as the unemployed casino workers with relevant compensations, their decisions met the opposition of the Atlantic County communities.
According to Atlantic County representatives, the financial aid, intended to help the remaining casinos, is definitely not beneficial to the taxpayers so they required the Atlantic City authorities to reconsider helping them along with relieving the problematic casinos.
Last Tuesday, Dec.30th, the Board of Freeholders passed a proposal and requested the Legislature to make sure that the decision for helping the casino industry does not harm the taxpayers’ well-being and their financial condition is given a decent amount of attention when it comes to the implementation of a relief bill.
Mere weeks ago, New Jersey’s gambling officials announced that the eight remaining casinos on the territory of Atlantic City will be allowed to pay smaller annual taxes.
However, Atlantic County’s Board of Taxation raised the question about the taxes home and business owners will be supposed to pay. They consider the tax relief, provided to the casinos, to be a key factor for increasing the taxes paid by the residents of Atlantic County.
According to the resolution, sent to the Legislature, any tax relief provided to the casino industry would severely affect the local residents and business owners unless they are equally compensated or in other words, provided with particular tax relief alternatives.
The assemblyman Chris Brown is said to be in charge of introducing a bill, supposed to provide local residents and businesses with a tax relief. Nevertheless, the board has not been notified for such a proposal yet.
Once Brown introduces the proposal, the taxes Atlantic City residents are obliged to pay, will remain the same for the next five years. In other words, all taxable properties, including casinos, will pay the same amount of money they paid in 2014, until 2020.
The change is believed to help Atlantic City financial matters and casinos in particular.
It is important to note that the proposal that is to be introduced by Brown has nothing in common with the taxes program, presented by Steve Sweeney, the Senate President.
According to Brown, Sweeney’s proposal is not going to provide Atlantic County’s businesses and residents with any benefits. On the contrary, it is believed to be pretty unfavorable.
While the bigger Atlantic City-based venues will receive a tax relief amounting to $10 million per year, the owners of properties in the county will have to pay significantly higher taxes, which, in some cases, could reach up to $9 million annually.
