State of New Jersey Getting Ready to Confiscate Unused Gift Cards for Needed Cash

Politicians may call it a gift card tax. I call it theft. The cash strapped state of New Jersey is looking at gift card confiscation in order to raise needed money for the states. While I like gift cards, there is this truth, like in Superman IV or Office Space, where retailers are making bigger profits from the unused portions that total lets say 13 cents. Most people give up on the card rather than keep it to spend the 13 cents later.

Of course, that's what is driving this idea of a state taxing the remaining balances of gift cards in what should be called outright theft.

New Jersey lawmakers voted to allow seizures on gift cards after more than two years citing that the seizure would generate around $80 million towards balancing the state’s troubled budget.

That's stealing from the consumer and the retailer of the gift card. What about protecting consumers that save their gift cards in order to purchase a large ticket item? Often these gift cards are held onto for a year or two. This just isn't right, and it once again shows how federal and state governments will put no limits on the number of ways they will tax us.