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NJTA Tax Summit Recap
To the Taxpayers of New Jersey:
On May 7, 2008 - The New Jersey Taxpayers Association (NJTA) held its
Statewide Tax Summit at the Capitol building in Trenton. The gathering
brought together dignitaries from the NJ business community, leaders of
all the primary business associations, the president of the National
Taxpayers Union, Washington, DC and the local US Department of Education
regional representative in addition to the executive director of
Excellent Education for Everyone - E3 and a variety of NJTA members and
policy wonks.
GOAL: The purpose of this meeting was to expand our outreach to all of
the various taxpayer stakeholder communities.
Attendees included:
o Gil Medina, Executive Managing Director, Cushman & Wakefield
o Jim Leonard, Senior Vice President Government Relations, NJ Chamber of
Commerce
o Deborah Bierbaum, Executive Director, External Tax Policy, AT&T
o Arthur Maurice, First Vice President, New Jersey Business & Industry
Association
o Duane Parde, President, National Taxpayers Union
o Paul Tyhala, Vice President Commerce and Industry Association of NJ
o Dan Gaby, Executive Director, E3
o Valarie Smith, US Department of Education Secretary's NE Regional
Representative
o Laurie Ehlbeck, State Director, National Federation of Independent
Businesses
o Plus a number of other attendees from NJTA, NTU and several state
policy groups
o (It should be noted that the media was not invited in order to
maintain the focus on the formation of a statewide coalition movement.
As appropriate we will be reaching out to them with a formal press
conference/announcement.)
Without a doubt this was our most far reaching and successful gathering
to date and we are in the process of making plans for the follow up
meeting to add to the Coalition group and keep up the momentum. The
agenda covered a litany of topics centered on building a diverse tax
coalition made up of every conceivable taxpayer/organization in the
state. While it will take considerable time and effort to achieve, it is
well within our reach and certainly will be a formidable force down the
road.
Perhaps the validation of our future promise was these words from Mr.
Gil Medina (Cushman & Wakefield) in an email the day following the
event:
"Jerry;
This was a good beginning for 2008. I look forward to supporting you
with your future efforts.
It would be helpful to me to be able incorporate some of your points
when I speak publicly (as I often do) about the challenges facing our
state.
It would be helpful if you and Duane shared some of the statistics from
your Power Point Presentation. They make a compelling case for the need
for action.
Gil Medina, Executive Managing Director"
With that challenge I look forward to providing all of you with periodic
updates on our progress and hope that you will do your utmost to add to
the campaign momentum and encourage as many of your friends, neighbors
and associates to become members in the coming weeks/months.
Thanks for your interest and we hope to hear from you soon.
Jerry Cantrell, President
New Jersey Taxpayers Association
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