In light of a recent poll that found 25 percent of New Jersey residents are “very likely” to leave the state when they retire, one lawmaker wants to reform the way the state taxes pension benefits.
The goal is to keep middle-class retirees in New Jersey.
More details from the Burlington County Times:
New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney says he’s interested in changing the way the state taxes pension income to help keep retirees from leaving New Jersey for less expensive states.
New Jersey does not tax Social Security or military pensions, but requires residents to include pension income when they file their income tax returns.
Residents age 62 or older can qualify for a pension tax exclusion of up to $20,000 of their income for couples or $15,000 for individual filers, provided their gross income doesn’t exceed $100,000.
Speaking to seniors during a telephone town hall meeting hosted by AARP-NJ, Sweeney said he was interested in reforming the pension tax to help entice residents to remain in New Jersey during their retirements.
“We’re looking at raising the threshold to keep people in New Jersey,” Sweeney, D-3rd of West Deptford, said Tuesday.
[…]
The issue of seniors fleeing New Jersey has prompted several lawmakers to propose repealing the state’s inheritance tax or raising the state’s threshold for paying an estate tax from $675,000 to the federal level of $5.34 million.
Sweeney didn’t dismiss those proposals during the town hall, but said he also wanted to pursue changing the pension tax because it would assist more middle-class retirees.
“It really hits the middle class hard,” he said.
New Jersey taxes pension benefits at a rate of 3.6 percent; that number has grown from 3.1 percent since 2000.
But it’s not the only reason retirees are thinking about leaving. The state’s housing costs for seniors are the highest in the country, and healthcare costs are the third-highest.