Saturday, June 27, 2015

NJ Watchdog: Christie vetoes tax hikes as White House run nears




Preparing his run for the White House, Gov. Chris Christie polished his image as a tax-cutter Friday with a billion dollars’ worth of vetoes to the state budget passed by the New Jersey Legislature.

Politically, it was good timing for Christie, who plans to formally announce his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday at Livingston High School, his alma mater.

The governor vetoed a “millionaire’s tax” that would have raised an estimated $688 million, plus a one-year increase in the corporate tax to generate an additional $435 million. The Democratic-controlled Senate and Assembly sought those funds to help restore $1.8 billion Christie had slashed from next year’s annual pension contribution.

“If I had the money today to make the full pension payment, I would,” said Christie, speaking at a news conference. “We don’t – and I’m not going to raise taxes on all the people in New Jersey to benefit 625,000 (pensioners) in a system that’s completely broken.”

Christie also proposed a new tax break for lower-income families, increasing the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit to 30 percent of the federal credit. Democrats had approved a raise to 25 percent; the current EITC in New Jersey is 20 percent.

“I hope the legislature will concur quickly,” said the governor. “I want to cut taxes for everyone. The legislature won’t let me cut taxes for everyone, so now we’re going to cut taxes for the working poor in the state.”

At the news conference, Christie refused to discuss his upcoming campaign for president.

“I’m not here to talk about my political future,” he said. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk about my political future next week.”

The story is online at http://watchdog.org/226277/christie-vetoes-tax-increases/

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The republican clown cars gets more crowded as another monkey joins the circus !!

Getting more like a zoo than a circus as the monkeys join the clowns in the melee and the nonsense really begins !! Going to need cages pretty soon !!

Anonymous said...

The Republicans now have a field of candidates that remind us of "animal house".