NEWARK — New Jersey voters should support a constitutional amendment that would allocate millions of dollars in corporate taxes for preserving open space, a bipartisan coalition pushing the plan said today.

The coalition kicked off its “Yes on 2” campaign at the Greater Newark Conservancy’s Prudential Outdoor Learning Center, arguing that the amendment would create a stable source of funding for the open space program.

public question on the Nov. 4 ballot would amend the state constitution to guarantee that a percentage of corporate business tax would be earmarked for purchasing open tracts and preserving farmland and historic properties.

"We need to let people know what's at stake – clean air and clean water," said Ed Potosnak, the executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.

For the first five years the program would set aside 4 percent of the corporate tax, or $71 million annually. The amount would increase to 6 percent, or $117 million, thereafter.

“I’m encouraging all New Jersey voters to come out and vote yes on question two in November,” said state Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R- Somerset, Hunterdon, Mercer and Middlesex. “We’re only halfway there.”

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