Sponsored by:
Assemblyman WILLIAM W. SPEARMAN
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
Assemblyman CLINTON CALABRESE
District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblyman DAVID BAILEY, JR.
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywomen Simmons, Katz, Assemblymen Miller, Moen and Assemblywoman Peterpaul
SYNOPSIS
Dedicates certain wine tax receipts to “Jersey Fresh Program Fund.”
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the dedication of certain wine tax receipts to the “Jersey Fresh Program Fund,” and amending P.L.2017, c.197.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.2017, c.197 (C.54A:9-25.44) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. There is established in the Department of the Treasury a special fund to be known as the "Jersey Fresh Program Fund."
b. (1) Each taxpayer shall have the opportunity to indicate on the taxpayer's New Jersey gross income tax return that a portion of the taxpayer's tax refund or an enclosed contribution shall be deposited in the special fund.
(2) The State Treasurer shall annually deposit into the “Jersey Fresh Program Fund” an amount equal to the revenues generated from the alcoholic beverage excise tax, R.S.54:43-1, at the rate of $0.21875 per gallon of wines, vermouth, and sparkling wines sold by plenary winery and farm winery licensees pursuant to R.S.33:1-10.
c. Any costs incurred by the Division of Taxation for collection or administration attributable to paragraph (1) of subsection b. of this section may be deducted from receipts collected pursuant to this section, as determined by the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting. The State Treasurer shall deposit net contributions collected pursuant to [this act] paragraph (1) of subsection b. of this section into the "Jersey Fresh Program Fund."
d. The Legislature shall annually appropriate all funds deposited in the "Jersey Fresh Program Fund" established pursuant to this section to the Department of Agriculture for the purposes of providing support to the Jersey Fresh Program, which shall include, but need not be limited to, funding advertising, promotional, and quality grading program activities to inform consumers about the availability of locally grown agricultural products.
e. As used in this section, "Jersey Fresh Program" means Jersey Fresh for fruits and vegetables, Jersey Grown for nursery crops, Jersey Seafood for aquacultured and wild-caught fish and shellfish, Jersey Equine for equine livestock, and Made with Jersey Fresh for processed food made with New Jersey sourced agricultural products.
(cf: P.L.2017, c.197, s.1)
2. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill dedicates a portion of the revenue collected from the alcoholic beverage excise tax on certain wine sales to the “Jersey Fresh Program Fund.”
Specifically, the bill requires the State Treasurer to deposit into the Jersey Fresh Program Fund an amount equal to the revenues generated under the alcohol beverage excise tax at the rate of $0.21875 per gallon of wines, vermouth, and sparkling wines sold by plenary winery and farm winery licensees, as defined under State law. This dedication equates to 25 percent of the tax currently imposed on the sales of these alcoholic beverages.
In 1984, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture created the first state-sponsored agricultural branding program in the nation, “Jersey Fresh,” in order to distinguish the high quality of New Jersey-produced fruits and vegetables from others in the marketplace. The State-sponsored branding program was later expanded to include “Jersey Grown” for nursery crops, “Jersey Seafood” for aquacultured and wild-caught fish and shellfish, “Jersey Equine” for equine livestock, and “Made with Jersey Fresh” for processed food made with New Jersey sourced agricultural products.
The Jersey Fresh Program Fund was established by law in 2017 to enable the collection of voluntary contributions for the Jersey Fresh Program through gross income tax returns. Under current law, the Legislature is required to annually appropriate all funds deposited into the Jersey Fresh Program Fund to the Department of Agriculture for the purposes of providing support to the Jersey Fresh Program, which includes, but not be limited to, funding advertising, promotional, and quality grading program activities to inform consumers about the availability of locally grown agricultural products.
This bill expands the scope of revenues that are required to be annually deposited into the Jersey Fresh Program Fund to include a portion of revenues generated from the alcoholic beverage excise tax on the sale of wines, vermouth, and sparkling wines by plenary winery and farm winery licensees. Under the bill, the Legislature would also be required to annually appropriate these monies to the Department of Agriculture for the purposes of providing support to the Jersey Fresh Program.