A Baaad Tax in Climate Sheep’s Clothing

At Issue

By Ray Cantor, NJBIA Deputy Chief Government Affairs Officer On Sep 30, 2025

We are getting tired of saying “here we go again,” but here we go again. 

At the same time New Jersey ratepayers are reeling from 20% increases in their utility bills, and Gov. Phil Murphy is urging lawmakers to codify his failed and costly energy policies, the Legislature is also considering an exorbitantly bad idea: the “Climate Superfund Act.”

While ostensibly about raising money for damages related to climate change – damages the scientific community has rejected – this bill is just another tax from Trenton on New Jersey taxpayers and will result in higher prices at the pump and even higher utility bills. 

This climate tax bill would impose unfair and unconstitutional retroactive penalties – as much as $70 billion – on companies that have legally extracted or refined fossil fuels. Supporters of this bill ignore the fact that New Jersey residents and business who use these fuels will ultimately be paying the price. 

And while the bill claims that this money will be used to make our state more resilient, there is nothing in the bill that will ensure that. We all know what happens when we give Trenton billions of dollars. They spend it – and not in the way it was intended. While making New Jersey more resilient to extreme weather is laudable and even necessary, this is not the way to raise or spend the funds needed.

New Jersey continues to suffer from an affordability crisis: the cost of housing, energy, food, and just about everything else keeps getting more expensive, making it challenging to keep living and doing business here. We must stop imposing more taxes. We must especially stop making energy more costly because that in turn drives up the cost of everything that is built or created with energy.

Also concerning is what this bill will do to our state’s two major refineries, which employ 35,000 workers and contribute $7 billion to the state’s economy. There is no doubt that the advocates supporting this bill want them shut down and if this bill passes, they may just do that, putting tens of thousands of workers with good-paying jobs out on the street. 

Our leaders should solve problems, not create new ones through tax-and-spend policies. We need to lower the cost of energy, not find ways to make it even more expensive. 

So, if you are asked if you support a major new tax disguised in climate sheep’s clothing, the answer is no. We want lower, not higher energy bills. Let’s not be fooled again.

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