Amy Carver, Lambertville
With the renewed outrage in New Jersey at the massive number of retirees who are “double-dipping,” I am curious about why the IRS has not intervened to apply the rules it adopted for the private sector in 2010 here.
The age-old New Jersey practice of double-dipping occurs when state employees “retire,” start collecting a pension, and then are rehired, often the next day. Yes, that’s right. They retire, collect a pension and begin accruing a second or third pension in the state retirement system at the taxpayers’ expense.
In the private sector, the IRS has ruled that employees cannot retire and receive pension benefits and then be rehired. Benefits cannot begin unless there has been a true termination of employment. Private sector employees’ pension benefits can only begin only after there is a genuine severance from employment.
It occurs to me New Jersey’s “sham” retirements also would fall under the IRS ruling described above.
Could it be that our state policy makers and politicians are so unethical that they believe the 2010 IRS ruling for private sector employers does not apply to them either in principle or practice?
New Jersey’s pension system has an unfunded $151 billion pension liability, which the New Jersey taxpayer is on the hook for. The system is broke and broken. And there appears to be no will to fix it or to hold our public officials accountable for operating ethically within it.
Should we expect reform soon? Hardly.
Both parties are knee deep in this. Gov. Christie’s own deputy chief of staff collects $219,000 a year from the state a $130,000 salary as a top aide to the governor plus $89,000 in state pension. And state Senator Loretta Weinberg receives a $40,746 annual pension while collecting her $49,000 salary.
Voters should demand a ballot question to outlaw double- and triple-dipping. There are so many mouths at the trough in Trenton that a vote in the Legislature is not very likely.
Amy Carver
Lambertville
