September 30,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, late Friday while all eyes were on the Hoboken Train tragedy and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Governor Christie, Senate President Sweeney and Speaker Prieto reached a tentative agreement to finance the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).A special legislative session will be called next week to ratify this agreement so it is subject to change.
The following are some of the details that have emerged :
0.23-cent gasoline tax increase…bringing total to 37.5 cent/gallon tax on gasoline
Sales tax cut: On 1/1/17, the sales tax will go from 7% to 6.875% and in 2018 to 6.625%.
Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor to 35 percent of the federal benefit amount beginning in tax year 2016
Tax Savings for Retirees: Increase the New Jersey gross income tax exclusion on pension and retirement income over four years to $100,000 for joint filers, $75,000 for individuals and $50,000 for married/filing separately
Eliminate the Estate Tax: Phase out the estate tax over the next 15 months, replacing the current $675,000 threshold with a $2 million exclusion after January 1, 2017 and eliminating the estate tax altogether as of January 1, 2018
Tax Savings for Veterans: Provide a personal exemption on state income taxes for all New Jersey veterans honorably discharged from active service in the military or the National Guard.
The only common sense was reduction in the estate tax. It should be immediately eliminated if the full gas hike is immediate. Everyone I know has already changed their domicile to Florida and “self-exiled” for 182 days per year in order to preserve their money.
Forcing those with expendable income to go sp no elsewhere for 6 months a year hurts nj economy but you can’t explain that to some moron democrat .
The gas tax massive increase will get pissed away by the democrats who control the state legislature.
The proper way to get more bang for the buck is to allow non Union construction companies to perform the work. I see the same 3 contractors doing the majority of the work.
That explains why it costs nj 2 million per mile, the most in the USA