By Stephen Stirling | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 13, 2016 at 8:36 AM, updated December 13, 2016 at 3:06 PM
The struggles of Atlantic City are well documented.
Casino closures. The threat of bankruptcy. The recent state takeover.
But while much has been made about the pain being felt by the city and its most famous commercial tenants, new data show its residents likely feel the sting more than most.
NJ gas tax could be used to prop up public pension system
By Michael Symons December 8, 2016 6:39 PM
In a roundabout way, revenues from the increased gas tax might help shore up New Jersey’s beleaguered pension funds.
A proposed bill, S2842/A4388, would enable the Transportation Trust Fund to borrow directly from the pension funds, rather than sell bonds to investors. There would be no cap to how much could be borrowed. The pension funds are typically limited to buying 10 percent of any single bond sale.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said the pension funds would benefit from earning a higher interest rate than they do buying U.S. Treasury bonds. And the TTF would avoid paying the fees normally associated with a bond sale, Sweeney said.
“Why are we giving fees to Wall Street? Why are we letting other people make interest off of us when we have a pension fund that is woefully underfunded?” Sweeney said.
Sweeney estimated the impact by talking about a hypothetical $1.2 billion in borrowing by the TTF, which he said would cost the TTF $60 million in interest, at an interest rate of 5 percent, and $6 million in underwriting fees to Wall Street.
“The money is there. This is a safe bet. This is not a risk. We don’t want to risk people’s pension funds,” Sweeney said. “Why pay someone else 5 percent when we could pay ourselves?”
The bill wouldn’t require the pension funds to invest in TTF and New Jersey Infrastructure Bank bonds, but it would lift the limits on what the State Investment Council could choose to do. Other types of state debt, such as for school construction, would not be included.
Read More: NJ gas tax could be used to prop up public pension system | https://nj1015.com/nj-gas-tax-could-could-be-used-to-prop-up-public-pension-system/?trackback=tsmclip
By Myles Ma | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 07, 2016 at 8:44 AM
Bill Brennan has been an irritant to local officials for more than 20 years.
The activist and retired firefighter is in the middle of a fight to drag Gov. Chris Christie to court on an official misconduct charge, alleging that he knew about the Bridgegate scheme.
On Monday the Wayne resident announced that he would also aim to succeed Christie and join the elected officials he’s been plaguing for most of his adult life by running for governor.
Here are five things you should know about the prospective gubernatorial candidate:
By Alyana Alfaro • 12/05/16 4:45pm
Last week, former firefighter Bill Brennan made headlines for his appearance in court as he attempted to get a Bergen County judge to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate an official misconduct complaint filed against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for his role in the Bridgegate lane closures. While the judge denied the request, Brennan appeared in Wayne on Monday to claim he will continue to pursue to effort and to make the unexpected announcement that he will run for governor in 2017.
Brennan has never held office before and considers himself a citizen activist. He will be running for the state house as a Democrat. Brennan will now join former Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy and Assemblyman John Wisniewski in the June Democratic primary.
https://observer.com/2016/12/activist-who-filed-complaint-against-christie-to-run-for-nj-governor/?utm_campaign=Observer_NJ_Politics&utm_content=New%20Campaign&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics
file photo by Boyd Loving
By Erin Petenko | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on November 17, 2016 at 1:16 PM, updated November 17, 2016 at 3:25 PM
More than 200,000 residents left New Jersey last year, new Census data shows.
The state lost 17,000 more people than it gained back, as residents left for other states and overseas, according to the 2015 American Community Survey. The loss could signal potential future issues with its population and economy.
New Jersey residents — 227,000 of them — abandoned the state ranked dead last in income growth last year, and with the highest property taxes.
Most of what the state gained back came from foreign immigration, which netted the state 62,000 new residents last year. Earlier data suggests that many of those immigrants come from Asia, as the region accounted for 45 percent of new foreign migrants in 2014.
Some data has indicated that source of the population is falling as well, since better job growth in other states has led immigrants to choose more welcoming areas.
Births in New Jersey, though declining, are still high enough to replace the loss of migrants. But the coming decades could see an era of shrinking population and the economic problems that come with it.
Poor population growth is closely tied with economic issues. New Jersey relies on an influx of residents to grow its industries and contribute to government services.
Pension liabilities and revenue loss from lower taxes are cited
By
KATE KING
Updated Nov. 14, 2016 6:18 p.m. ET
S&P Global Ratings cut its rating for New Jersey’s general-obligation bonds Monday, marking the state’s 10th credit downgrade under Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
The downgrade stemmed from the state’s rising pension liabilities along with an expected drop in revenue as part of a transportation-funding package signed by Mr. Christie, said David Hitchcock, senior director at S&P Global.
The New York ratings, data and index firm lowered New Jersey’s credit rating to “A-” from “A” and assigned a negative outlook.
“Just as the state is pushing off some of their pensions costs into later years, they are also pushing off some of their revenue loss into later years,” Mr. Hitchcock said. “It’s adding incremental pressure.”
Credit ratings help determine the interest rates that states pay when they sell bonds; a lower credit rating means higher borrowing costs.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ratings-firm-downgrade-new-jersey-1479162490
file photo by ArtChick
Three-quarters of certified public accountants in New Jersey have advised clients to leave the state because of the estate and inheritance taxes, according to the head of the New Jersey Society of CPAs.
That tax is ending – and so is the advice, even before the law is off the books, said Ralph Albert Thomas, the CPA group’s chief executive officer and executive director.
“Not only our members, but I know estate attorneys have been sending out correspondence about, look, they need to reconvene with their clients to relook at what they proposed,” Thomas said.
The survey found 83 percent of respondents felt estate and inheritance taxes had prompted clients to leave New Jersey. A follow-up survey is planned for the spring, to see how much the advice has changed.
The estate tax is paid on approximately 3,500 estates annually, around 5 percent of the approximately 70,000 deaths in the state each year.
Currently, New Jersey’s estate tax threshold is $675,000. The full value of any estates worth more than that is taxed. That will be changed to a $2 million exclusion at the start of 2017 – meaning, for instance, that an estate worth $2.5 million would be taxed on the $500,000 over the excluded amount.
The tax is then eliminated entirely at the start of 2018.
Read More: Estate tax cut already changing CPAs’ advice to flee New Jersey | https://nj1015.com/estate-tax-cut-already-changing-cpas-advice-to-flee-nj/?utm_campaign=Observer_NJ_Politics&utm_content=New%20Campaign&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics&trackback=tsmclip
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on November 02, 2016 at 6:55 PM, updated November 03, 2016 at 7:07 AM
TRENTON — New Jersey’s distressed government worker pension system is now the worst funded in the U.S., according to a report by Bloomberg.
The Garden State’s public pension fund has languished near the bottom, but has now dropped below Kentucky and Illinois for last place, according to the report.
Their analysis compared the states’ funding ratios, or their assets in relation to their pension debt.
As of July 1, 2015, New Jersey’s state and local pension funds have just 37.5 percent of the funding it needs to pay for future benefits. That is based on new reporting standards that require the state to project lower investment returns and had bleak consequences for the state’s estimates.
By Michael Symons November 2, 2016 7:21 PM
Over the last seven years, more than $99 of every $100 spent on transportation projects by the state Department of Transportation and NJ Transit has been borrowed.
From 2010 to 2016, less than $76 million out of almost $9.4 billion in cash outlays have been from current revenues, according to the Transportation Trust Fund Authority.
The rest has come from borrowing that has contributing to nearly $16 billion in debt. Yearly payments on that debt will be around $1.3 billion through 2029, then more than $1 billion annually for a dozen years after that.
Read More: Half of NJ’s new gas tax is being used to pay back old debt. Can state curb that trend? | https://nj1015.com/half-of-njs-new-gas-tax-is-being-used-to-pay-back-old-debt-can-state-curb-that-trend/?utm_campaign=Observer_NJ_Politics&utm_content=New%20Campaign&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics&trackback=tsmclip
By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on November 02, 2016 at 2:53 PM, updated November 03, 2016 at 7:07 AM
Will a 23-cent increase in the gas tax prompt lawmakers to repeal the state’s prohibition against drivers pumping their own gas to ease the pain at the pump?
New Jersey and Oregon are the only two states which ban drivers from pumping their own gas. However, legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle expressed strong support for keeping the ban in place on Wednesday.
Prices increased at this Shell Station on Route 27 in Iselin after the state gas tax was hiked on Tuesday. (Photo by Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media, for NJ.com )John Shabe | NJ Advance Media
Most say that repealing the law would not be enough to help drivers who are feeling the sting of higher gas prices after the tax increase took effect on Tuesday.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney reiterated his earlier position that he would not post a bill repealing the self-serve ban, by offering a one-word comment, through a spokesman. No.
On top of that the real estate website Zillow looked at median property taxes across the U.S. last year and found that seven of the 10 counties with the highest property taxes ; Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Union, Morris, Hudson and Hunterdon are all in New Jersey. The remaining three were in New York State.
New Jersey has one of the most progressive income tax structures in the entire country. Income taxes start at 1.4 percent on earnings less than $20,000 and the top marginal tax rate hits 8.97 percent on income over $500,000.
Sales tax rate in New Jersey is 7 percent, which ties with Indiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Tennessee as the second highest in the USA.
Then there is corporate taxes according to the Tax Foundation, “New Jersey … is hampered by some of the highest property tax burdens in the country, is one of just two states to levy both an inheritance tax and an estate tax, and maintains some of the worst structured individual income taxes in the country,”
In state by state comparisons of state corporation income taxes collected per capita, New Jersey came in seventh highest at $265 per person.
November 1,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The nation’s second-lowest gas tax ended officially at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, and was replaced by one of the highest per-gallon rates in the nation , The .23 cent increase gives New Jersey now 37.5 cents-per-gallon.
While the party line from Trenton is that money will be used to refill the depleted TTF or Transportation Trust Fund providing the money New Jersey bridges and roads need for a massive investment .
A few things to keep in mind when you pay up at the pump;
The average cost of road repair in the US is $39,000 per mile but in NJ it’s $2 million a mile; New Jersey spends eight times the national average on its state-controlled highways.
The Reason Foundation says New Jersey spends just over $2 million per state-controlled mile on construction, maintenance and administration, triple the roughly $675,000 spent by the next-highest state, Massachusetts, and more than eight times the national average of $39,000. I call it “out of control” spending.
The state DOT disputes that number. But with reports the reconstruction of Route 35 were more than $27 million per mile, it’s clear our costs are out of control.
The state of New Jersey funds highway, bridge, and rail projects through its Transportation Trust Fund, which relies on borrowing and gas tax revenue to contribute $1.225 billion to the state’s overall $1.6 billion construction budget this year. Can anyone say “Ponzi Scheme” ?
Why the deficit and lack of funds? Is it because the corruption in Trenton has already used these allocated tax monies to offset other programs, loans, or deficits. Bad deals are made by politicians looking to get elected, guaranteeing political donations from unions, keeping project labor agreements and prevailing wages artificially inflating the costs of road work.
By some accounts, New Jersey spends the 3rd most of any state on transportation funding.
The Christie administration is committed to finishing the job on Sandy recovery, revitalization and resilience efforts.
Updated: OCTOBER 20, 2016 — 3:39 PM EDT
by WAYNE PARRY, The Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – The New Jersey Senate approved a measure Thursday that would punish billionaire Carl Icahn for shutting down the Trump Taj Mahal casino by prohibiting him from holding a casino license for it for five years.
The bill would only apply to Icahn at this time, even though four other Atlantic City casinos have shut down since 2014.
Icahn’s Atlantic City management team says the bill is unfair and unconstitutional, making it virtually impossible to reopen the Taj Mahal should they decide to do so.
The bill has not yet been voted on in the state Assembly. If passed by the full Legislature, it is likely to be vetoed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who has made criticism of some labor unions a key part of his political agenda.
Ridgewood NJ, This week, presumptive Democrat Gubernatorial nominee and Corzine retread was exposed by WikiLeaks for exploiting loopholes in election law to further his political ambitions.
Democrats are poised to nominate another Wall-Street insider with expert knowledge on exploiting election laws to further his candidacy. The most recent revelations in the saga on Corzine 2.0 (aka- Phil Murphy) came after WikiLeaks furnished e-mail correspondence between Murphy and DC insider and Clinton advisor John Podesta, who has been at the heart of the latest WikiLeaks scandals.
Murphy has already spent a boat-load of money on television and print advertising claiming to be an outsider, but the latest leaked e-mails paint a much different picture of a politician that knows how to use his own money to get his way.
Murphy established a tax-exempt non-profit organization, allowed to take unlimited money without disclosing its donors, in a clear attempt to bolster his Gubernatorial ambitions. Under the law, this organization was supposed to be a “social welfare organization”, allowed to engage in political activity, but not as its primary mission.
As reported by WNYC News, While Murphy said publicly that this was simply a public advocacy think-tank, privately in e-mails to John Podesta, disclosed that the group was formed to boost his name ID as he was “VERY serious but not yet committed” to run for Governor.
With a direct line to one of Clinton’s main advisors and after his shameless acceptance of endorsements of corrupt county bosses and Trenton’s largest special interest group, the NJEA, Murphy’s wasted no time making it clear to voters that he is just another political insider with Wall Street values pretending to be someone he’s not to get elected.
