New Jersey is home to over 200,000 singly located businesses, all fighting to claim and retain their spot in the market.
As if owning a business wasn’t already hard enough, a recent study by WalletHub ranked New Jersey 44th in a listing of best states to start a business. If you’re one of the business owners who survived the first years, you have likely spent an enormous amount of time reducing overhead expenses. According to the study, the following business costs are pulling New Jersey down in the listing.
Business costs:
- Office-Space Affordability
- Labor Costs
- Average Annual Single Insurance Premium per Enrolled Employee
- Corporate Taxes
- Total Effective State & Local Tax Rates on Mature Corporate Headquarters
- Total Spending on Incentives as Share of GDP
- Cost of Living
How to challenge real estate taxes
Commercial real estate taxes, one of a business’s biggest expenses, are based largely off your property assessment. If your property assessment is too high, so are your property taxes.
For an assessment to be considered excessive, you must prove that it does not fairly represent one of two standards:
- True market value standard — 100 percent of true market value of previous tax year
- Common level range standard — Adjusted to consider external factors (inflation, depreciation, income generation, recession, etc.)
As a business owner, you have likely come to the realization that the state’s larger political system makes it hard to succeed. Take control where you can. Don’t let something as simple as someone’s miscalculation end up costing you everything.