New Jersey legislators stonewall Christie tax cut
Source: Rueters
Mon Jul 2, 2012 3:56pm EDT
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, July 2 (Reuters) - New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie called lawmakers back for a special session on Monday to pass a tax cut plan, but the Democrat-led legislature refused to act.
After the special session, lawmakers left the statehouse without voting on Christie's proposal.
Christie signed a $31.7 billion budget on Friday and then called lawmakers back on what was to be the first day of their summer vacation after they ended last week's session without enacting any tax cut plan.
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Sweeney said after Monday's session that the governor's proposed tax cuts would not take effect until next year anyway, making Christie's special session a "completely unnecessary" event calculated "more for the national stage."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/newjersey-christie-tax-idUSL2E8I29QS20120702
Monday, July 2, 2012
Christie's special session yields nothing (so far)
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Political theatrics took center-stage Monday as Christie used his constitutional powers to call legislators back from vacation and lecture them about the need for immediate tax relief. After he finished his remarks, Democrats held press conferences about how they want to wait a few months before deciding whether to cut taxes – state revenues so far indicate that they can’t yet afford it, they said.
And then they left the legislative chambers.
Nearly two hours later, Christie released the document he wanted them to vote on: A conditional veto of Democrats’ bill to raise taxes on millionaires, which Christie red-lined and turned into tax cut. The cut would apply to those with household incomes up to $400,000, giving them an income tax credit equal to 10 percent of their annual property taxes. He noted that the proposal was modeled on the one Senate Democrats had proposed earlier in the year.
Democrats dismissed Christie’s session as political grandstanding, saying that even under his own plan taxes wouldn’t be cut until next year, and would only provide $20 to the average family anyway. They also noted that Christie vetoed bills last week that would have provided tax relief to, for example, the working poor.
"The governor will move from 30-second sound bite to 30-second sound bite because he needs the media attention like you and I need oxygen," said Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D., Camden).
more: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/christie_chronicles/161121255.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
As a resident of PA with many friends and coworkers who live in Jersey, I figured that is what was happening - i.e., property taxes going through the roof because of the lack of funding going to the boroughs and townships from the elephant-in-chief.
