A report released today by PolitiFact NJ in the Star-Ledger confirms some disturbing facts regarding Governor Christie’s policies. PolitiFact found that in 2010, the Governor made two cuts to education which totaled about $1 billion. The study also found that the Christie administration is on target to hand out $2.3 billion is corporate tax breaks, which is almost double the $1.2 billion spent on corporate tax breaks over the entire previous decade.
Christie’s handout of $2.3 billion in corporate tax breaks since he took office is excessive, and represents a lopsided and flawed trickle-down approach to stabilizing our economy and to helping struggling middle class families. Furthermore, the Christie administration has consistently failed to fully fund New Jersey’s education formula in accordance with state law. In FY2011 alone, funding came in about $1.6 billion dollars short, mostly as a result of Christie’s deep cuts to public education.
Despite Christie’s attempts to project a moderate image, his policies tell a much different story. Christie’s policies have disproportionately hurt average working families. His veto of a minimum wage increase, his reduction of the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, his attacks on collective bargaining rights, his rollback of property tax rebates, and his cancellation of the ARC Tunnel project, have all taken a massive economic toll on our state’s working families.
For New Jersey’s economic recovery to take hold, we need to build our state from the bottom up. Christie’s top-down method is simply the wrong approach.
Please CLICK HERE for the PolitiFact NJ report regarding Christie’s corporate tax breaks and education cuts.