Jersey First President Rosemary Becchi Urges Legislature to Act on Pension & Benefits Reform during Assembly Budget Hearings
“New Jersey has become increasingly unaffordable for most of us. This budget will make that problem much worse.”
Jersey First President Rosemary Becchi Urges Legislature to Act on Pension & Benefits Reform during Assembly Budget Hearings
Trenton, NJ – Jersey First President Rosemary Becchi testified against the adoption of Gov. Murphy’s proposed 2020 Fiscal Year Budget today, urging the Assembly Budget Committee to first grapple with the root causes of New Jersey’s financial crisis and end policies that are forcing families and businesses to move out of the state.
“I urge you on behalf of all people in New Jersey to do the responsible thing – we need to use this budget process to force the Governor to address the structural reforms necessary for the pension and health care system and refuse to allow any additional taxes,” Becchi said. “Let’s fix the problem by trying new solutions, not just pass along our problems. Let’s try reducing the burden on New Jersey families and businesses so they will stay in the state.”
Becchi said the proposed budget shows a lack of “political courage” to deal with the underlying fiscal crisis impacting state government, and instead relies on the old, failed practice of raising taxes on families and industry.
She cited a “plethora” of new taxes adopted since Governor Murphy and the Legislature approved their record high 2019 spending plan, noting the effort has failed to date to generate enough revenues to cover the spending and the state may come up short by June. Gov. Murphy’s proposed 2020 plan, the largest in state history at $38.6 billion, is proposing increased spending and a so-called millionaires tax that will harm small businesses already struggling to overcome new regulations.
“The well intentioned, yet misguided wave of increased minimum wages, expanded leave requirements for private companies, increasing the Corporate Business Tax and now vowing to boost a so-called millionaire tax are killing New Jersey’s economic potential,” she said.
New Jersey was rated again this week as the worst state for doing business by the Tax Foundation, a national tax policy research organization. Additionally, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that New Jersey’s employment gains for 2018 were 44 percent lower than initial surveys indicated. Employment growth has slowed, and the BLS data shows the state’s worker participation rate, which measures the number of working-aged people actually working or seeking jobs, is trailing the national rate for the first time in many years.
“Something is seriously wrong,” Becchi said
The financial problems with New Jersey’s government finances are rooted largely in the state’s largest liability, the state pension system. Other pressures include an increasing state payroll that lacks a merit system and the state’s adherence to offering platinum level health care coverage.
“Implement the pension and benefit reforms recommended last summer by non-partisan fiscal-policy experts and bi-partisan groups of this Legislature. Create a new retirement system, a modified 401k plan, for public workers, at least for new employees and those not yet vested in the state pension system,” Becchi said. “Let’s catch up with the private sector and other states by moving off the platinum health care package for public workers to at least a gold plan.”
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Jersey First President Rosemary Becchi is a leading tax policy lawyer and consultant who was formerly counsel to the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. Becchi helped author the 529 College Savings Plan. She is currently a Strategic Advisor and Counsel at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where she specializes in tax and financial services matters
Learn more about Jersey First at: https://www.jerseyfirst.
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