Writer: “New Jersey doesn’t have enough money to pay for retired state employee pensions.”
Editor’s note: This letter was written in response to The Washington Township Sun’s editorial “The Pain is Coming.”
New Jersey doesn’t have enough money to pay for retired state employee pensions. The author offers solutions. It occurs to me, and I’m by no means an expert, the pension managers had to know exactly what the projected costs would be. There wasn’t enough money set aside to cover these projected costs. Why? We can only guess.
Whatever the case, here are the solutions:
№1 raises taxes; now we have a bail out and the lowly taxpayer gets it in the throat again. №2, cut incentives for corporations to come or stay; fewer corporations will reduce our revenue and raise our unemployment. №3, cut health-care costs for retired public workers; I guess if they worked with that benefit on the table they should get it, just understand that almost no one gets medical benefits after retirement anymore. And, my favorite, №4, legalize marijuana. The state drug problem apparently isn’t bad enough, but no difference, there’s money to be made. No need to walk down those dark alleys at night looking for a fix, New Jersey will be your new dealer. The next step could be to legalize opium. That’s a real moneymaker. №5, stop the phase out of the inheritance tax. This is money the state has no right to, to begin with. The taxes were paid in full when the money was earned.
I think, and again, I’m no expert, that we need to cut all the wasteful spending. Do away with state departments and positions that yield nothing. To use a phrase that is becoming very well known, we need to “drain the swamp.”
Politicians spend money as if it were theirs. It’s not. It belongs to the taxpayers, and should be used in their best interest. It’s time someone told them. A new concept I know, but that’s my opinion.
Donald Whitelock
