Conservative
Type 40
Outstanding article on what Christie has done to lower unemployment and is trying to do to attract new businesses. As NY and CT increases taxes, NJ says "Hey 1%ers - Occupy NJ"! In addition, his income tax reduction plan has Dems scrambling for their own plan to decrease taxes. They want lower property taxes instead. I'm certain the 1%ers would be ok with that too.
The Weekend Interview with Chris Christie: Christie to the 1%Please Occupy New Jersey - WSJ.comGarden State Gov. Chris Christie has a message for the top 1% of income earners: Please occupy New Jersey. "I'm going to start going after a lot of these hedge-fund guys who are in Connecticut and New York and say, 'You're going to get a better deal with us,'" says the country's most important Republican not running for president.
Mr. Christie's new tax-reform plan also offers an improved deal to the bottom 99%, which is why he may be able to move it through New Jersey's Democratic legislature: a 10% cut in tax rates across the board.
Politically, so far so good. A recent Quinnipiac poll gives him a 53% approval rating among the state's registered voters, and Mr. Christie says that private polls show him "in the low 60s."
Economically, unemployment in the state has fallen to 9% from a high of 9.8%. With almost 3.9 million people working, New Jersey has added almost 60,000 private-sector jobs since he took office, while shedding more than 21,000 government jobs. Reforms of the pension and health programs for government employees will save taxpayers an estimated $120 billion over the next 30 years. A new limit on local property-tax increases appears to be working.
"When Governor Cuomo raised taxes over here that made it even more attractive for me to go after the income tax . . . from a competitive perspective." He adds that with Gov. Dannel Malloy also enacting a tax increase in Connecticut last year, "it's a strategic decision as much as a philosophical decision."
But is he fundamentally changing the political culture of New Jersey? This week's reaction to his tax reform suggests that he is. Democrats largely responded with their own plans to cut taxes, focused on local property bills.
I would expect the Democrats to begin recall petition proceedings any time now.