While reading the Asbury Park Press
during breakfast at The Chicken or the Egg (aka the Cheg) in Beach Haven on
Long Beach Island (my usual “Cheeser Pleaser”) yesterday morning I came across
an item on NJ Governor Chris Christie’s policy priorities.
Now that I live in PA I shouldn’t
care about NJ politics. However the bulk
of my clients and friends still remain in the “Garden State”.
I have always been a fan of “Uncle
Chris” (the federal government is Uncle Sam, and I have always referred to NJ as
“Uncle” or, in the case of one previous governor, “Aunt” when it comes to
discussing taxes). I fully support his taking
on the corrupt NJEA (NJ Education Association) – which I believe is the largest
contributor to political campaigns in the state. Christie, and I, are not against NJ teachers –
we are against the abuse of the corrupt union.
FYI - I am not a "card carrying" Republican (nor am I a "card carrying" Democrat). The only "cards" I carry are for NATP, AARP, the discount programs of Staples, Stop and Shop, and Rite-Aid, and various police organization "courtesy" cards (never used).
The newspaper item mentioned the following policy
priorities of the governor –
·
Reducing
the NJ Gross Income Tax by 10% across the boards.
·
Banning
NJ politicians from holding multiple elected offices.
·
Eliminating
the indefinite accumulation of sick pay by government employees and the full pay-out
thereof at retirement.
I wholeheartedly support all three of these proposals.
(1) I have frequently said here that I
will reduce my annual living expenses by over $11,000 as a result of my move to
PA. To be honest, I will actually pay
more state income tax as a PA resident (a flat 3+% rate on gross taxable income
with no deductions or exemptions). My
major savings will come from housing costs – monthly inflated rent in NJ vs
truly minimal real estate taxes and monthly maintenance fees from the purchase
of a reasonably priced condo (no such animal available in NJ). I will also cut my insurance costs – health and
auto – almost in half.
That said, NJ does have a high progressive state income
tax, as well as excessively high real estate taxes and a higher state sales tax
(NJ is 7% and PA is 6% - although I lived near “Urban Enterprise Zones” in NJ
where the sales tax was only 3½%). High
taxes lead to the exodus of high income residents.
(2) Many of NJ’s corrupt politicians (a
redundancy) on all levels have several (often more than 2) paid elected and appointed
government positions, as do the members of their family. This results in multiple duplications of paid
benefits and entitlements.
No NJ resident (individual or married couple) should be
allowed to hold more than 2 paid elected or appointed government positions at
the same time. And no NJ family should receive
more than one set of resulting employee benefits (health insurance, pension,
etc). If a person, or married couple,
holds 2 government positions he/she/they should be limited to the higher set of
benefits from the 2 positions.
(3) Sick pay is an accommodation, for
the benefit of the employer, and not
an entitlement. It permits employees who
are truly sick the ability to stay home and recover without losing pay rather
than being forced to go into work and risk infecting other employees.
Currently government employees in NJ can accumulate unused
sick pay indefinitely over the life of their employment, and are paid for all unused
sick days when they retire. As we have
seen in the case of suburban NJ Superintendents of Schools in the past few
years, this can add up to a severance pay of over half a million dollars upon retirement. This is utterly ridiculous and an indefensible
waste of taxpayers’ money.
As an aside note, it appears that these Superintendents
of Schools never took a sick day – they just “worked at home”.
No retiring government employee should be paid one red
cent for accumulated allegedly “unused” sick pay!
So a hearty “right on” to brother Christie! Please continue the good fight.
TTFN
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