TRENTON — New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney said the state should reduce taxes on retirement income, which he said would stop retirees from leaving the state. Sweeney, (D-Gloucester), said he disagrees with Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s call to lower the state’s top income-tax rate to 6 percent from 9 percent to boost economic growth. Christie’s plan would help...
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney said in a radio interview today seniors can't afford to live in New Jersey because of the taxes they pay on retirement income.TRENTON — New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney said the state should reduce taxes on retirement income, which he said would stop retirees from leaving the state.
Sweeney, (D-Gloucester), said he disagrees with Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s call to lower the state’s top income-tax rate to 6 percent from 9 percent to boost economic growth. Christie’s plan would help the wealthy and the state needs to focus on helping older residents struggling to pay their bills, Sweeney said.
Seniors “can’t afford to live here” because of the taxes they pay on retirement income, Sweeney said today in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “We need to start there, those are the people who are leaving.”
Christie, a first-term Republican, said last month he’d like to cut the state’s top tax rate by a third to reverse a slide he said has sent $70 billion in private wealth out of New Jersey in the past decade. In May, he vetoed an attempt by Sweeney and the Democrat-led Legislature to extend a one-year tax surcharge on residents earning at least $1 million.
Christie, who took office in January, told a Sept. 30 UBS AG conference that he hopes to make the tax-cut before his first four-year term expires, depending on economic conditions. He said the state economy benefited in the 1980s and 1990s, when the top rate was 6 percent.
Michael Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Previous coverage:
• Couple's cozy retirement hinges on reining in costs
• Union County woman poised for successful retirement
• N.J. to extend deadline for 'Senior Freeze' property tax rebate program
• N.J. budget 2011: Senior 'Freeze' property tax rebate frozen
• N.J. 'Senior Freeze' rebate checks are sent at last year's level after budget cut