TRENTON -- Motorists may be fuming over having to pay 23 cents a gallon more at the pump come November, but the deal to restore New Jersey transportation funding will bring significant savings to retired residents living in the Garden State.

Legislation signed by Gov. Chris Christie on Friday raising the gasoline tax 23 cents per gallon included $1.4 billion in tax cuts he called tax relief for "working New Jerseyans of all income levels, senior citizens, military veterans and property owners."

That includes a five-fold increase in the income tax break for retirees. Right now, married couples filing jointly can get out of paying any state income tax for their first $20,000 in retirement income. That will jump to $100,000 by 2020.

Ralph Albert Thomas, executive director of the New Jersey Society of CPAs, said the increase in the retirement income tax exclusion will be a useful tool in fighting middle class flight and a welcome savings for those with retirement and pension income.

"I think this will definitely benefit and be a way to keep those retirees in New Jersey and not have them go to Pennsylvania and Delaware," he said. "I think it will make the decision to move a little more difficult, or not as easy."

The limit for a married couple filing jointly will jump from $20,000 to $40,000 in 2017, to $60,000 in 2018, to $80,000 in 2019 and $100,000 in 2020. For a married person filing separately, it will gradually increase from $10,000 to $50,000, and for a individual filing as a single taxpayer, from $15,000 to $75,000.

Anyone with more than $100,000 in taxable New Jersey income would have to pay the full state income tax. The tax break applies to residents 62 and older.

While critics level charges that the prominent elimination of the estate tax as part of the gas tax deal will largely benefit the wealthiest residents -- only about 4 percent of estates are subject to it each year -- the retirement income exclusion change is a clear middle-class tax break, Thomas said.

The tax deal signed Friday was borne from negotiations between Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who supported competing plans. The retirement income tax break was the only one in both leaders' plans.

"This is one of the most meaningful tax cuts we can enact. Financial security is a meaningful priority for those who are living in retirement. It provides peace of mind and the ability to maintain a quality of life, especially for seniors who live on fixed incomes," Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said Friday. "For many parents and grandparents, these savings will allow them to remain in New Jersey, living in their home communities and nearby their children and grandchildren."

Thomas said that with a lower cost of living, cheaper property taxes and no tax on retirement income, Pennsylvania's draw is strong. For those who stayed in New Jersey, the state's low bar to begin taxing retiree income meant retirement dollars didn't go as far, he added.

The AARP New Jersey, which represents 1.3 million seniors, has said it supports the tax cut, which will allow "middle-class retirees to keep more of their hard-earned and hard-saved money to spend on goods and services throughout our state, supporting economic growth."

Starting in 2018, that tax change will pluck between $60 million and $90 million from the state budget. That will grow to between $87 million and $134 million in 2022.

Pat Provnick, a retired school teacher and president of the New Jersey Retirees' Education Association, said a tax break for seniors is "a wonderful thing," even more so because cost-of-living increases are frozen. But hundreds of thousands of retired public workers would be better served if that money was paid into ailing government worker pension funds, she said.

The state portion of the public pension fund is underfunded by $43.8 billion, and far more under different accounting standards.

Provnick said it's a tough position to take. She also knows retirees who've left the state to preserve more of their retirement income, but "you have to think in terms of the big picture rather than the temporary cure."

"They can give you all the exclusions they want, but it doesn't matter if there's no pension," she said. "It's a really hard thing to say, well, put the money in the pension, don't give it to the members. But until we have a secure pension, it worries me every dollar that goes into the pension fund."

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.