Tax Foundation: NJ Pensions Are the Worst Funded in the Nation. Why Is Gov. Murphy Pouring in Billions of Good Money After Bad?
Posted OnJune 7, 2021 byJust as Politico is reporting that Gov. Murphy is considering making a payment even larger than last year’s $6.4 billion (14% of the entire state budget) into NJ’s broken public pension system, the Tax Foundation came out with a report that underscored how Murphy is throwing billions of good money after bad. The report determined that…Read More
As NJ Continues to Lose Wealth, It’s Premature to Judge the Full Impact of the SALT Cap
Posted OnJune 3, 2021 byBloomberg News came out with a report titled “SALT Cap Confounds Doomsayers as Fears of Exodus Prove Overblown.” The main take-away is that in NJ, as well as in other high-tax states like CA, CT and NY, the capping of state and local tax deductions (SALT) at $10,000 has not led to the feared…Read More
When It Comes to Employment, NJ’s COVID Recovery Lags the Rest of the Nation
Posted OnJune 2, 2021 byThe US Bureau of Labor Statistics came out with its most recent state employment data and unfortunately New Jersey continues to lag the rest of the nation when it comes to umemployment and a shrinking labor force. The overall unemployment rate for the nation was 6.1% in April 2021, but in NJ, it was 7.5%….Read More
Quid Pro Quo: SEIU Joins the NJEA in Endorsing “Enthusiastically Pro Union” Gov. Murphy
Posted OnMay 26, 2021 byTo no one’s surprise, public union SEIU endorsed Gov. Murphy for re-election, following in train of NJ’s most powerful public union, the NJEA. In doing so, they describe Murphy as a “enthusiastically pro union governor, who has “enacted policies that significantly improved the lives” of public employees. This sounds a lot like what NJEA Secretary…Read More
NJ Citizens Will Pay More Lifetime Taxes than Any Other State – By Far
Posted OnMay 24, 2021 byWell, you don’t have to take Sunlight’s word for it. While agenda-driven “think-tanks” like NJ Policy Perspective insist that NJ’s tax burden is not so high, the federal government’s data says otherwise: over a lifetime, NJ has the highest tax burden of any state — by far. According to a study by financial technology company…Read More
New Direction Spent $13.2 Million Boosting Gov. Murphy, with $10.5 Million from the Taxpayer-Funded NJEA
Posted OnMay 20, 2021 byPolitico’s Matt Friedman reported in his New Jersey Playbook that NJEA-funded Super PAC New Direction New Jersey(NDNJ) has spent nearly $13.2 million over the past three years to boost Gov. Murphy. Friedman points out that the $13.2 million is almost as much as the $15.6 million the governor would be permitted to spend if he…Read More
NTU President Abeigon Tries to Rewrite History after Sunlight’s Billboard Calls the NTU Out
Posted OnMay 18, 2021 byNewark Teachers’ Union head John Abeigon issued a response to Sunlight’s billboard, one of several around the state that blames the NTU and the NJEA for keeping students out of the classroom and contributing to large-scale learning loss for Newark kids. Unfortunately, Abeigon does not stick to the facts about the matter and attempts to…Read More
More Shoddy Research from NJ Policy Perspective: the Fate of Camden Students Be Damned
Posted OnMay 14, 2021 byThe scholars at New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) have done it again: they have published shoddy, substandard “research” in the service of their NJEA patrons. Their new report revolves around the spurious and unsupported claim that there is “no evidence” that the state takeover of Camden schools has improved student learning. Once again, NJPP’s own report…Read More
America’s CEOs See NJ as One of the Worst States To Do Business. Again.
Posted OnMay 10, 2021 byChief Executive Magazine came out with its 2021 “Best and Worst States for Business,” and New Jersey did not fare well. Again. Obviously, it’s important what CEOs think about a state because when corporations are making decisions about expanding or shrinking their corporate footprint, CEOs have a lot of say in the matter. In this…Read More
Star-Ledger Publishes Sunlight Op-Ed: Teachers Need To Be Told the Truth About Their Pensions
Posted OnMay 5, 2021 byN.J. teachers need to be told the truth: Their pensions are in jeopardy | Opinion Today 9:37 AM as of June 30, 2020, New Jersey had less than 25 cents set aside for every dollar it owed for teachers’ pensions. With such a low funded-level, Brookings makes clear that this amounts to throwing billions of…Read More