Petri, Santarsiero respond to NJ tax reciprocity agreement

Tom Waring, the Times

State Reps. Scott Petri and Steve Santarsiero welcomed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s announcement that he will maintain a tax reciprocity agreement between his state and Pennsylvania.

Petri issued the following statement:

“When Gov. Christie announced his plan to revoke our reciprocity agreement in September, I immediately spearheaded an effort with several of my House colleagues in Bucks County, imploring the governor to reconsider. I wrote a letter to the governor and followed up with five phone calls to his office, requesting a meeting with him and local elected officials to discuss the intended and unintended consequences of ending our agreement. I am pleased that the governor heard our concerns and that he recognized the negative impact it would have had on taxpayers and businesses that employ them in both states.”

Since July, Santarsiero has worked with legislative offices in both states to dissuade Christie from breaking a 39-year-old agreement that allows Pennsylvanians who work in New Jersey to pay income taxes in their home state, and vice versa. Santarsiero and other southeastern Pennsylvania legislators circulated a petition, which gathered more than 5,000 signatures.

In a news release, Christie said that offsetting savings in New Jersey’s 2017 budget saved the deal. Santarsiero said that he is happy the deal will remain, but resents the fact that families and taxpayers were used as political footballs.

“I’m glad that hard-working taxpayers on both sides of the river won this fight,” Santarsiero said. “Our collective voice won the day. Thousands of Bucks County families will be better off for it. Thank you to all those families for lending me their voice in the fight.”