NJBIA has begun sounding the alarm on New Jersey’s finances. When the state’s budget process kicks off in a month, the governor and lawmakers will need to confront what is in fact a fiscal crisis in New Jersey, but few officials are talking about it.
To hopefully get the debate going, NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka laid out New Jersey’s fiscal problems in an op-ed that ran recently in the Asbury Park Press.
“New Jersey has the highest taxes and the worst business climate in the nation. We are in a fiscal crisis, with unfunded liabilities for public worker pensions and retiree health benefits escalating with no ceiling in sight,” she wrote.
“Unfortunately, concerned New Jersey residents did not hear how Gov. Murphy plans to approach these harsh realities during last week’s State of the State address.”
Specifically, she urged policymakers to consider that:
• According to the PEW Charitable Trusts, New Jersey revenues have fallen short for the past 15 years, amassing the worst deficit in the nation.
• New Jersey’s combined net pension liability and post-employment benefits obligation is currently $151.6 billion — four times the amount of the State’s annual budget.
• To remedy these obligations, every New Jerseyan would need to write the State a check for $17,018.22.
• If nothing is done to address it, the obligation will increase by $1 billion a year.
I could not agree more with the editorial.For people who care about the State, the current administration is a major disappointment.If the goal is to drive everyone away, our politicians are doing a good job.
I am a small business owner and NJ will not be a viable option much longer to keep the company here. There are several nearby states that are much more tax friendly. Property taxes will force me to move out of state as well, and my situation unfortunately has become the “norm”, not the exception. I don’t know anyone in my demographic that plans on retiring in NJ. For a state that has gambling, lottery, and a number of corporate headquarters, it is amazing that the state can’t get control of its finances. It is sad to see, it has so much to offer, but lack of fiscal responsibility over the past 30 years leaves me to believe it will be a state ranked at the bottom of every list in the next 10-15 years.
The state pension obligation is going to kill us. What I find interesting is that so many people who receive or will receive a state pension plan on moving when retiring because of the high cost of taxes in NJ!
Here is what we need.
1. NO more state pensions- make it a 401 that is 100% funded for new hires.
2. 30-35 year to be vested- not unreal. retiring at 20-25 is a joke.
3. No payment till 65 like SS.
4. Must maintain NJ residence to get pension or even be enrolled in pension
At first look, this sounds like a good start!
Or at least a reduced pension payment for those who leave the state in retirement. That provision is already in place for their working career so it is not unprecedented. Plus, once they leave the state they no longer vote, so our politicians will not view them as a protected class.
NJ has reneged on it’s fiscal obligations for decades now. It is absurd to think that this State is getting through this mess, without part of the solution being new revenue options (taxes). Puh-Lease. Everyone cries about taxes—show me a ballot initiative that required massive capital spending or borrowing increases, that the voting public turned down