Dear Legislator:
New Jersey taxpayers face a growing and unmanageable burden in the form of the
state’s public employee pension and benefit systems, and we urge you to
consider the long-term reforms proposed by Governor Chris Christie.
State estimates forecast an unfunded pension liability in excess of $110
billion, while a study using private-sector accounting methods by the Mercatus
Center at George Mason University forecasts an unfunded liability of nearly
$180 billion. The raw dollar amounts and increasing share of the state budget
make this cost unsustainable for state taxpayers, and further delay of serious
reforms only exacerbates the problem.
The legislature deserves praise for its bipartisan work on pension and health
benefit reforms during the 2006 special session on property taxes, and for the
improvements enacted earlier this year. New Jersey is already further down the
road of reform than other states facing problems of similar scale.
However, the action taken earlier this year is not enough to prevent future
insolvency. Governor Christie’s proposals to adjust benefit calculations,
increase the retirement age, change benefit options and use a more realistic
formula for predicting investment returns, would largely close the entitlement
gap, and thus deserves your immediate support.
Proposed
changes to health benefit packages, such as greater cost sharing and a broader
menu of benefit choices for employees, will help rein in unfunded healthcare
liabilities and annual costs, while offering protections to taxpayers. It
is time again for the real bi-partisan leadership you have demonstrated in the
past on behalf of the hard working citizens we all represent in our various
leadership roles.
The New Jersey Taxpayers Alliance also supports closing the defined benefit
plan to new hires, and offering new state and local employees a defined
contribution retirement plan, which has become standard in the federal
government and private sectors. While this shift will lead to short- and
medium-term increases in the state’s contribution to retirement accounts, it
would also safeguard future taxpayers from the huge unfunded liabilities faced
under current conditions.
We hope you will continue your bipartisan work to revitalize New Jersey and
protect its taxpayers by making these reforms to the state’s pension and
benefit systems.
And finally, we look forward to continue working with you to reform New Jersey,
and make it an even greater place to live, learn, and do business.
Let’s
make the Garden State a national leader in positive fiscal reform.
Sincerely,
John Stephenson
State Government Affairs
Manager
National Taxpayers Union
Joshua
Culling
State
Affairs Manager
Americans for Tax Reform
John
Galandak
President
Commerce
and Industry Association of New Jersey
Henry
Levari
Business
Director
Excellent Education for
Everyone
Jeffrey
T. Kaszerman
Director,
Government Relations
New Jersey Society of CPAs
Sal
Risalvato
Executive
Director
New
Jersey Gasoline-C Store-Automotive Association
Jerry
Cantrell
President
New Jersey Taxpayers Alliance
Deborah
Dowdell
Executive
Director
New Jersey Restaurant Association
Neil Coleman
President
New Jersey Taxpayers Association
Laurie Ehlbeck
State Director
National Federation of Independent Business/New
Jersey
PDF
Letter
