Christie calls for tax cuts, saying state "comeback has begun"
"Understand what this means - every New Jerseyan will get a cut in taxes: The working poor, the struggling middle class, the new college graduates getting their first job. the senior citizens who have already retired, the single mom, the job creators, the parents trying to afford to send their son or daughter to college."
Christie calls for tax cuts, saying state "comeback has begun"
Matt Katz, Inquirer Staff Writer
For the full story about this in today's paper, click here.
Delivering his State of the State speech in front of both chambers of the Legislature and a live television audience, Christie pledged this afternoon to reduce income taxes by 10 percent across the board -- a proposal that got a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers and even a handful of Democrats on the other side of the aisle.
Christie also said he would restore the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor, which he had cut in 2010. He said:
"Understand what this means – every New Jerseyan will get a cut in taxes: The working poor, the struggling middle class, the new college graduates getting their first job. the senior citizens who have already retired, the single mom, the job creators, the parents trying to afford to send their son or daughter to college."
But Democrats, in a press conference immediately after the speech, said the income tax proposal will end up benefitting millionaires and underfunding schools. Someone earning $50,000 a year would save $80.50; a millionaire would save $7,265, Democrats said.
Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D., Camden) used other numbers. "$275 for a family making $100,000 a year is not a grocery bill for a family of five," he said. "It is constantly on the back of the poor and the middle class and a reward for the wealthy."
With Camden Mayor Dana Redd sitting in the front row of the balcony, Christie pivoted to inner-city issues and announced a "bail reform package" -- first promised during his campaign -- to keep violent offenders in jail while they await trial instead of allowing them to post bail. Modeled after the federal criminal system, Christie said this might require a constitutional amendment to accomplish.
"We need to reclaim our inner cities," he said.
In addition, Christie said it should be “mandatory” for non-violent drug offenders to be housed in an in-house drug treatment facilities instead of prison. That received a standing ovation from nearly the entire audience.
“I am calling for a transformation of the way we deal with drug abuse and incarceration in every corner of New Jersey," he said.
Christie reiterated his multi-pronged education reform plan to change the tenure system, provide scholarships to students in failing districts and increase pay for teachers with better performance evaluations. There were no new proposals.
“People are recognizing the New Jersey comeback all over the world,” he said, citing the private companies growing in New Jersey. He cited state data that shows 60,000 new private sector jobs have been added since he came to office.
In a message that could apply to both policy and Christie’s reliance on his loyalty-first brand of politics, he said: “Stand strong with me, and I will stand up for you. We are going in the right direction.”
Christie repeatedly returned to a bi-partisan message -- an acknowledgment of the reality that he is a Republican governor dealing with a Democratic legislature. With Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex) sitting behind him at the front of the Assembly chambers, Christie referenced how Sweeney cursed him out in July over Christie's budget cuts affecting the most vulnerable.
"Now it doesn’t mean we didn’t shout at each other. It doesn’t mean we didn’t get angry. You may even recall that even some of my friends had some very colorful nicknames for me," he said, turning around to look at Sweeney.
Sweeney smiled and shrugged as the audience applauded.
revenues have been increasing the last few years and the economic data is good. Not to mention lower taxes will attract more residents from PA and NY and keep residents who were going to leave.
— Northeaster
---
LOL Lower taxes. The house I brought for 220,000 that is now worth 160,000 just had the taxes assessed at 198,000.
You are about to have a large number of people leaving NJ.
I'm out of here.— Bush Destroyed America- Did the fat boy forget about property taxes? That's where the problem is, NOT income tax, which the former governor Christie already gutted when she was in office. Stop giving to the rich and help the rest of us for a change.— Charles B
- Reduced taxes have worked swimmingly, so far. All of the investment capital, realized from generous tax cuts over the past decade, is off chasing near-slave labor in perpetually-emerging nations off shore. Bravo for those tax cuts thus far.— Nostromo
- Good for Christie. Its about time somebody takes the pressure off of taxpayers working hard for their check. Its time to do something about the failure of the cities in jersey, and taxes.— theeman1
comeback? NJ has a housing market that is stagnant, property taxes are still high while values are still underwater, the number of renters has increased and the number of homeowners has slid downward. People can't sell their homes for what they paid, and therefore have problems escaping the State. Many Jerseyians can't leave unless they take a loss. However, Gov. Blowhard wants everyone to believe things are getting better - sorry fat boy, you can fool all those die hard conservatives that don't care anyway, but, the typical citizen can see the truth and it sure isn't coming from the fat man and it sure isn't pretty.— slugo- Florida has no state income tax, a lower sales tax and actual homestead tax relief. It can be done. Florida is gaining four House seats, while NJ is losing one.
I agree that current real estate taxes are the real challenge. Actually, the NJ income tax is quite progressive. Governor Christie's across the board cut in the tax makes the State tax less progressive.
Has Governor Christie released his State and Federal income tax yet, or is he pulling a Romney?— John Scanlon - Florida as a role model? It has terrible public schools, which are purposely and negligently underfunded. Lots of golf courses and I like Publix, too...but we digress. Christie's played a nice shell game here. He raised highway tolls to pay for the tunnel to NYC, and then cancelled the deal, but never brought the tolls down, and has just increased them. So, that's a tax INCREASE. He has taxed government workers by taking more out of their pay for health benefits, and pension funding, while continuing the practice of having the state contribute NOTHING to the pension fund, and he is doling out pennies claiming an income tax cut for everyone, while putting in more unfunded mandates for municipalities and school districts who will have to fund those mandates through local property taxes. All he's doing is kicking the can down the road, while at the same time redistributing the responsibility for solving real economic problems onto other more local governments. That way he can claim to be cutting taxes, while pointing the finger at everyone else. In other words, he's not interested in solving NJ's problems. He's merely building his political resume for his auditioning for his next job. In short, his physical appearance indicates the size of his avarice for more power and more influence in helping to become more seated among his true fans---folks like the Kohn brothers.— pigday31
- Is Matt Katz on Christie's payroll? Never a bad word said. What it all comes down to is this Governor's using his position to run for higher office.— richw38
- wow, the uneducated anti-christie crowd is in overdrive today. NJ is badly broken thanks to the democrats. It will take a lot of pain and more than two years to fix it. Capping property taxes and cutting income taxes are two huge steps.
here's a clue for the rest of you, if you are relying on the government to pay for things you want, you better get a second job because those of us who actually prop up your way of life are sick of paying your way for you.— NJ_taxpayer - Porkchop calls for a 10% cut over three years but won't start for ther 2 years! lolz.....please, how about the jobs you promised NOW?!?— The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine
- DelawareRiverRat, Did you receive the bill for the first two quarters of your local real estate taxes? Got mine yesterday. Guess what big guy, the Homestead rebate reduced my 1st payment due Feb 1 a whopping 32 %! The overall increase in our township was a little over 2 %.— lefty
- A 10% cut hardly offsets the toll increases that went into effect this month. Not only has my commuting costs increased, my property taxes continue to rise along with sewer, water, trash fees. And now my municipality is charging for leaf pick up. For all the yelling and finger pointing the Governor does, I don't see the results.— chasing history
- Have to love republican math. A $50k family will save $80.50 a year in taxes while a millionaire will save over $7k in taxes. Even if you were to multiply the $80.50 by 20 which is the multiplier for the 50K to reach the Million status that only results in a savings of $1610.00 I know the math isn't quite that simplewhen it comes to tax rates but it still seems heavily in favor of the Gov. and his friends. At least I can buy a few dozen donuts with the savings ( If I get to the donut shop before he does and all the good ones are gone)— ph71ss
- The state still owes $92 billion, the state needs to pay that off and also pay into its pension plan before it reduces its revenues. This is the same backwards thinking by the first christie that has contributed to part of the state's current problems.— flavious27
Reach him at mkatz@phillynews.com or 609-217-8355.
Follow Matt on Twitter: @mattkatz00. Reach Matt at mkatz@phillynews.com or 609-217-8355.
