December 2017 – Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce

Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee’s Statement on Federal Tax Reform

If you are following the news in recent weeks, there is no doubt that you have heard details outlining the pending tax reform legislation. The Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce business community supports tax reform, but we cannot support the proposed legislation in its current form. While the proposal may result in a net positive for the Country, that would not be the case at the State-level for people of New Jersey. Some of the direct downsides of the proposed legislation include the elimination of state and local tax deductions and limiting the property tax deduction to $10,000 (per the House GOP proposal - the Senate is looking for a plan that eliminates credits and deductions altogether). Additionally, there are various business industries that would, specifically, be harmed by the proposed legislation including the healthcare and higher education sectors. One of the largest, indirect, downsides of the proposed legislation is the continued, and potentially increased, outmigration that we are seeing Outmigration results in the loss of jobs, economic activity, labor income, and household income. Already staggering statistics put New Jersey near the top of the list for the highest, domestic, outmigration in the United States year after

Caregiver Volunteers of Central Jersey

Get to know our #WeAreTR Award Recipient CAREGIVER VOLUNTEERS OF CENTRAL JERSEY “Caring For People by People Who Care” Barbara Devlin, and her husband Jack, returned home to Toms River after visiting her father in West Virginia. Barbara was full of enthusiasm about an interfaith volunteer program in her father’s community that helped those who could no longer drive by taking them to medical appointments, shopping for their groceries, visiting the lonely and providing respite for the family caregiver. They approached Monsignor Ladzinski at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Toms River with this interfaith concept. He recognized the needs in our community to help the elderly homebound and was anxious to start a program here in Ocean County. In January, 1993, Caregiver Volunteers of Central Jersey opened their first office in Beachwood. A quarter century later, we now have 60 interfaith congregations in our coalition and over 1,200 volunteers in 23 municipalities of Ocean County. In March, 2016 our agency opened in Monmouth County. We now serve 13 municipalities with more than 120 volunteers, and we continue to grow. Collectively, these volunteers reach out their hands and help more than 2,000 elderly, disabled, veterans, lonely and homebound, and provide