Winter has arrived and begun to settle in as it approaches everyone’s favorite time of year – tax season. Well, I guess we still have a little bit of time; after all, it’s only December. It seems that Governor Christie might have plans for making some favorable changes to the income and business taxes in New Jersey. The Governor may propose business and income tax cuts as soon as January, according to Robert Grady, chairman of the governor’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Maybe, if we’ve been good, Santa will bring us tax cuts.

Naughty or Nice Business Checklist:

• Did you donate to a local charity?
• Are all your business finances properly updated and filed?
• Does your business owe the government any money?

Listen, if you expect good news about business tax cuts, you better break out every good deed in the book to get some positive karma going. If there is a tax cuts Santa, I’m sure he checks these things more than twice. Unsatisfied, he may convince the Governor not to be nice, who has enough bad information already. Apparently, New Jersey tax revenue is up, way up. New Jersey tax revenue is outpacing projections by 3.8 percent in the first five months of the fiscal year, the Treasury said Tuesday. Income taxes in New Jersey brought in the most money, helping to deliver revenue 12.7 percent over projections.

Alone, this statistic seems like it should be good news. The state government is ahead of its budget for the fiscal year. However, lets combine that knowledge with other stats describing the current economy in New Jersey. The unemployment rate is a hairs breathe away from 10 percent. The expected revenue from sales tax is down 1.4 percent, from predictions. That means people are still not spending nearly as much as economists and government officials expect. A survey of New Jersey small businesses showed that most of them are still working very hard to stay in business. Taking these two factors into account seem to paint a different picture than the excess revenue from New Jersey taxes.

Hopefully, Governor Christie and his staff will take the time to look over all the data and come to the only conclusion that makes sense. Tax cuts are needed for the majority of state residents and for New Jersey businesses. Ease the burden that we are carrying, our backs are tired. Less money being taken means more money can go into expanding small businesses locally and online. Introduce tax cuts that are effective at reducing the yearly robbery that takes place for New Jersey residents and businesses, and we’ll give back. Maybe.