Gov. Chris Christie signed a budget just shy of $34 billion on Friday in Trenton while using his veto pen to eliminate a proposed tax hike on millionaires and a 15 percent corporate business tax surcharge.
Altogether, Christie vetoed approximately $1.6 billion in spending included in the $35.3 billion budget that the Democratic-majority Legislature passed and sent him Thursday.
Christie said the Legislature was “deaf and blind” on the issue of taxes and noted that his numerous line-item vetoes reflected the Democrats’ unwillingness to engage him in budget negotiations.
“Once again, the Legislature overspent,” Christie said.
Pointing to the decision earlier in this year by Mercedes-Benz USA to move its American headquarters to Georgia, Christie said Democrats don’t understand that the company left the state “because taxes are too high in New Jersey.”
“And yet, the Legislature continues to think somehow we are immune to the competitive forces that are going around,” Christie said.
In his conditional veto of the proposed millionaire’s tax, which would have hiked taxes on those earning more than $1 million, Christie also called for increasing the earned income tax credit from 20 percent to 30 percent.
The move, which is something the Legislature has previously called for, is intended to help low-income working families, Christie said.
“This is something that those families need now more than ever,” Christie said.
Unaddressed in the budget was the state’s depleted Transportation Trust Fund, which will effectively run out of money next July.
Michael Egenton, senior vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, commended Christie for the vetoes to both the millionaire’s tax and the corporate business tax surcharge.
“When taxes are increased, we see businesses and business owners consider their options, and many ultimately decide not to relocate or expand in our state,” Egenton said. “At the end of the day, it is confidence and predictability that drive a good business climate and forges economic growth.”
Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), who chairs the Assembly Budget Committee, was not as pleased with Christie’s use of the veto pen, adding that Christie’s policies have “once again dug New Jersey deeper and deeper into fiscal crisis.”
“His stewardship of the state budget has left the state wanting,” Schaer said. “While we underfund our obligations, we continue to see no plan to the future for transportation, education, higher education, property tax relief, job creation and housing.”
Despite numerous reports indicating that Christie will launch his long-awaited presidential campaign in an announcement Tuesday at Livingston High School, the governor declined to answer any questions Friday regarding his “political future.”
“I’m here today to discuss my job as governor and what we’ve done with the budget,” Christie said.