New Jersey Monitor
December 12, 2025 by Nikita Biryukov
| Two New Jersey lawmakers have proposed a bill that would extend new tax breaks to New Jersey diners in a bid to counter post-pandemic slowdowns and inflation. The bill, dubbed the “Saving Our Diners and Protecting Our Past Act,” would exempt qualifying diners from New Jersey’s sales tax and create new tax credits for the state’s historic diners and other restaurants. It is sponsored by Sen. Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester) and Assemblyman Lou Greenwald (D-Camden). “They’re kind of the history and culture of many of our communities and kind of a symbol of our state, and I thought we could do something to maybe help them, preserve them, and keep them from closing,” Moriarty said. The sponsors said diners — something of a cultural hallmark in New Jersey — need the assistance amid rising costs and shifting consumer patterns that have pushed some establishments that have operated for decades to close. Those closures include, among several others, the 58-year-old Cherry Hill Diner, the 38-year-old Townsquare Diner, and the 85-year-old Miss America Diner. |
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Courtesy: New Jersey Monitor
Although i can appreciate the efforts to save the diners we have left in nj,i feel this type of regulation would help diners that qualify but could discriminate against other diners. If the politicians want to help, lower business taxes across the board, remove some of the regulations on the diner and resteraunt business. Government should not have the power to determine what businesses survive or not. As for the changing eating out trends the biggest problem is the costs of eating out. My wife and i would go to breakfast with friends two to three times a month but when breakfast goes from eighteen dollars to thirty dollars it limits our ability to go out as much, and we don’t go to dinner anymore because it just plain cost to much. A lot of the diner business is seniors , and now many can no longer afford to go out. We do however still gather ,but at different homes of members of our group, we have learned we can feed six adults cheaper than a diner charges for a couple, that is the trend now, so bailing out diners who are still loosing customers is throwing good tax money after bad. This is what happens when government gets involved in business.