finediony New Jersey news: Federal

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Parsippany students protest federal lunch program

MORRIS PLAINS (WABC) -- Some students who usually buy hot lunches are now brown bagging it instead. They are upset over the schools smaller portions and higher prices.

"We're all for healthy foods..but if the portion is smaller the price should be smaller," Brandon Faris, a senior, said.

The majority of students at Parsippany Hills High School made their feelings clear. Barely a customer bought lunch from the Farm Stand, the Solar Grill and the Pizza Zone in the high school's cafeteria.

"No one was buying food, they had this Chinese food set up, nobody got any," senior Joe Hunt said.

Mark Vidovich says he understands. He is president of Pomptonian, the food company providing the school spread.

"They say it's not personal, and they want to make a statement," Vidovich said.

A statement about the federal healthy hunger free kids act of 2010 to make school lunches more nutritious. Pomptonian, serves more than 80 districts that must abide by new rules.

"They introduced the new max on bread, entrees shrank by 33 percent," Vidovich said.

Like a smaller pizza, more carrots, less pasta, more salad and green beans, and no bread. The government raised lunch prices, Vidovich says, because it costs more to serve more fruits and veggies. But you're talking about high schoolers.

"At the end of the meal, you're not full," one student said.

"For $4.50, I can go to Wendy's and get a full meal," said another.

Vidovich says his company raised the concerns to the government. The kids want to make sure it's heard loud and clear.

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Federal commuter tax benefit cut by nearly half

Web produced by Jennifer Matarese, Eyewitness NewsNEW JERSEY (WABC) -- A not-so-happy new year for millions of folks in the tri-state who take mass transit.

The federal commuter tax benefit, which lets you deduct mass transit expenses, pre-tax, has been cut by nearly half.

That means a sort of hidden tax hike for millions of people.

Brianna and a buddy are taking the train into the city. She called her trip by car to Long Island the other day, a nightmare.

"We got caught in traffic. After 2 hours, we were still in Jersey City," said Brianna Graciano, a commuter.

It's what hundreds of thousands of bus and rail commuters miss, thank goodness, by not driving.

But many are about to lose part of another commuter benefit that saved them hundreds of dollars a year.

A federal stimulus plan that nearly doubled the amount of money commuters could claim tax free, as a part of the expense of traveling to work, ends at the end of the year.

For example, a monthly pass from New Brunswick to New York Penn Station is $361.

With the stimulus, only $131 dollars of the expense is taxed. Without the benefit, $241 is taxable income.

"You're talking about 13, 14 hundred dollars a year, doldrums that it is," said Albert Papp, NJ Association of Railroad Passengers.

New Jersey Senators Bob Menendez and Frank Lautenberg sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee, asking it to maintain the higher benefit for commuters, who's mass transit travels, they say, have more far-reaching benefits for everyone.

"It saves on the fuel, it's hard to park over there," a commuter said.

Commuters sign up for the benefit through their employers, who also get a 10% tax break.

Rail activists say it can save commuters up to 1,500 a year.

So far, the finance committee has not acted.

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