March 03, 2016

Dear NJGCA Member:

Thank you for reading this week's NJGCA Road Warrior!

Here is what you will find in this edition:

SENATE CONSIDERS ELIMINATION OF ESTATE TAX
NJGCA DINER TOUR & SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS

I have a short update for this week, to make up for last week's rather long message. However, be prepared for more lengthy updates in the future!! There is just THAT much critical stuff going on in Trenton and in the industry.

On Monday, Eric and I both had a busy day in Trenton. One of the things on the agenda was to testify in support of a bill to eliminate the estate tax in New Jersey. I know that unless you're a bit older and are getting concerned about what will happen after you are gone, this issue may not be front and center in your daily life. However, I also know that we have many members running family businesses, who have sons and daughters working in the business who are likely to inherit those businesses when their parents are gone.

God forbid, if God were to take the business owner home tomorrow, and his estate was worth more than $675,000.00, those children would have to pay 37% of the value of the entire estate, before inheriting anything. (This still does not include what the children will pay in inheritance taxes, as NJ is one of just two states that have both an estate tax AND an inheritance tax). Just imagine if your business is valued at $1 million, which in today's real estate world is pretty realistic, your children will have to come up with $370,000 in taxes just to keep the business. Real life experiences have forced families into actually selling the family legacy just to pay the taxes that are due upon the demise of the family member that owned it previously. This is just plain wrong!

Below, I have included a link to the written testimony that I submitted, as well as two links to the audio from the hearing. Both audio links are under two minutes long.

Click here to read the written testimony:
Click here to listen to the audio recording of my testimony
Click here for the audio recording of Senator Barnes voting in agreement with NJGCA's position and quoting my testimony in his comments

Finally, I was so pleased to get back on the road on Wednesday to go to my old stomping grounds in Paramus for another extremely successful Diner Tour meeting. I have included pictures in the Road Warrior like I normally do, but this is just another great opportunity to promote NJGCA's FaceBook and Twitter pages so that you can stay up-to-date with what NJGCA is up to!!

Check back on Monday for updates about NJGCA's day in Trenton, testifying against a proposal to triple the tax on cigars and all other tobacco products (with the exception of cigarettes). More on that to follow in next week's Road Warrior!

Testifying in front of the Senate Budget Committee in support of repealing the estate tax.

Debbie and $50 raffle winner Randy Mayo of Randy's Auto in Waldwick

Chris Schmid of Hough Petroleum with a case of Gulftec Motor Oil for raffle winner Ray Bruppacher of Bergenfield Exxon!

Packed house at the Suburban Diner in Paramus. Thank you to all who attended and to our Sponsors for making these events possible!

Monday, March 14th -- 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Class Starts 7:00 AM (donuts and coffee provided)
Pizza and soda served at 12:00 pm
MVC Test at 1:00 PM

Cost: Member = $250
Non-Member = $300

Please bring $50.00 check made payable to NJMVC to satisfy the State's licensing fee

For more information and Registration Form, click HERE

FUTURE CLASSES WILL BE ADDED UPON REQUEST AND ACCORDING TO DEMAND. CONTACT DEBBIE at 732-256-9646 or DEBBIE@NJGCA.ORG TO LET HER KNOW YOU ARE INTERESTED IN TAKING A SPECIFIC CLASS. THIS WILL ALLOW US TO GAUGE YOUR NEEDS AND KEEP TRACK OF THOSE WISHING TO PARTICIPATE!!

NJGCA MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER GILL ENERGY LOOKING TO HIRE FOR (3) DIFFERENT POSITIONS!

For more information about these positions, and to submit a resume for consideration, please contact: ravigill@gillenergy.com.

2/29/2016
N.J. lawmakers move on eliminating estate tax
On Monday, a state Senate committee passed a pair of bills to cut taxes which law- makers say are driving retired people out of New Jersey. If the bipartisan proposals to eliminate the estate tax and gradually raise the retirement income tax exemption are fully phased in, the measures would deliver about $400 million in tax cuts to residents, according to the Senate Majority Office. Democrats have said they hope to leverage these tax cuts into a deal with Gov. Christie to raise the gas tax to renew the TTF. It's still uncertain how the state will pay for transportation improvements after the trust fund runs out of money in July, but Christie has said he won't go for a gas tax hike without reductions elsewhere. The governor called for terminating the estate tax in his State of the State and budget addresses, but did not eliminate it in his proposed budget. Proponents of the tax changes say people are leaving NJ to avoid its low thresholds on taxing inherited wealth and retirement income.

2/26/2016:
New Jersey out of borrowing capacity for road, bridge work
We have reached our borrowing limit for new road and bridge repair work, according to a debt report released by NJ. The Christie administration issued about $627 million in bonds in December, the last of what was authorized by law, an Office of Public Finance report showed. For state taxpayers, the news underscores that the more than $1 billion transportation trust fund, which pays for capital projects, is approaching insolvency. How to keep the fund afloat past June 30 has been at the center of more than a year of debate between a Democratic-led Legislature and Republican Gov. Christie. Democrats have called for raising the gas tax and potentially lowering retirement or estate taxes. Christie says any proposal to increase the 14.5-cent gasoline tax has to be offset with cuts elsewhere. The news came the same day Christie, who recently dropped out of the Republican presidential race, backed front-runner Donald Trump. Democratic Sen. and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo said the debt report makes him optimistic a new plan can be agreed to by the June deadline. "I'm confident that the administration wants to implement a long-term plan," he said.

2/25/2016:
TTF is priority, Menendez says at Walk to Washington dinner
Ask supporters of replenishing NJ's depleted TTF, and you'll get a number of reasons for why fixing it should be a top priority. On Thursday night at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce’s “Walk to Washington” congressional dinner in Washington, D.C., U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez placed another on the table. If the trust fund is not restocked, an opportunity to take in over $1.6 billion in federal matching dollars may be lost. “New Jersey needs to fix the TTF so that we can tap into these federal dollars,” Menendez said. With that in mind, Menendez urged Gov. Chris Christie and the state Legislature to come to an agreement over the fund’s future. “We can have federal dollars, but at the end of the day, if we cannot match them, we cannot access them,” added Menendez. Menendez also talked up the need for comprehensive tax reform and noted that “despite the rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail and the partisan divide in Washington,” a priority should be placed on promoting bipartisanship.

We have had a number of NJGCA members successfully reduce their rate per kWh signing up through our energy saving program. We know it's difficult to collect 12 months worth of previous electric bills to get an "accurate" analysis when comparing a variable rate to a fixed rate, but we now have another option available.

This new solution is a power purchase option; the other program is still in full force and has saved members thousands of dollars. If you sign up for the power purchase option, you will be grouped with other NJGCA members until the minimum kW demand is acquired. By pooling the member's usage together, you will be able to take advantage, as large energy users do, and receive a lower kWh rate.

Each member will receive their own contract. Each member is responsible to sign and return the agreement the day it is received in order to secure the price for their group.

Please do your due diligence, so when you receive the proposal and the agreement you will be able to make an intelligent decision.

If by chance, you still want us to assess you bills, to give you a price to compare, we will require 12 months of your most recent utility bills.

There are no bills required, but we would still like to have one bill per meter on file to check account #'s, meter #'s service addresses and other pertinent information incase there is a problem.

The term of the agreement is for 12 months. During this term period, you will have price protection against any energy price increases along with a low fixed kWh rate.

If you are interested in becoming part of this power purchase option, please contact Greg Cannon at the NJGCA.

Remember when you sign up your energy through the NJGCA Energy Program, TMP makes a considerable donation to the NJGCA Scholarship Fund through their proceeds. This has no affect on your rate, and costs you nothing out of pocket.

We hope to help hundreds of NJGCA members reduce their utility costs by participating in this and our other cost reduction programs. Our purpose, in the endeavor, is to help NJGCA members lower their energy costs while supporting the NJGCA Scholarship Fund.

Contact GREG CANNON at 732-256-9646 or email Greg at greg@njgca.org. Mention that you are interested in saving money on your energy bills. NJGCA & TMP Energy Solutions will handle all the rest.

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC

DEFENDING OUR MEMBERS.
PROTECTING YOUR INTERESTS.
ANSWER THE CALL & CONTRIBUTE TODAY!!

Promoting our agenda in Trenton is of utmost importance to NJGCA and our members.

However, in order to truly affect the debate, we must ensure our friends in the Legislature are re-elected. It is for this reason that your Association has established the NJGCA PAC.

For too long, the weight of funding our Political Action Committee, the arm of the Association responsible for political donations, has rested upon a few. This is not only unfair to those few members who have shouldered this burden, but means we are not utilizing our full strength to affect the debate in Trenton.

To truly understand the importance of supporting our allies, consider our successes in Trenton:

We defeated BELOW COST SELLING
We made history in getting FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL signed into law!
We have built large support for RIGHT TO REPAIR and got it passed out of the Assembly
We defended your small business against the false accusations of Attorney General Anne Milgram
We gained wide support to move New Jersey to an all PIF Inspection System and close the CIF lanes
...and MUCH MORE!!

In each instance, we achieved these goals with the help of our friends in the Legislature!

If every member contributes just $100.00 we will be able to provide the help necessary to ensure victory for our allies.

PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO:
NJGCA PAC
4900 Route 33 West, Suite 100
Wall Township, NJ 07753
Please make your donation payable to NJGCA PAC

I understand that times are tough for all NJGCA members, but this is just as important as any battle we have fought in the past.

We have made great progress in Trenton. I hope that you will answer the call.

*NEW*Energy Information Agency Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices

Each week, the Energy Information Administration publishes a list of average gasoline prices for the previous three weeks. NJGCA will begin including this list with the Weekly Road Warrior. Remember, these prices are for reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.