A moment of Candor: Christie admits he's raising taxes

So tell me what has changed, Mr. Christie? (4.00 / 1)

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/nj_education_chief_warns_legis.html
N.J. education chief warns legislators of voter wrath after school budget defeats
"...Schundler is testifying in front of the Assembly Budget Committee, his second time in front of the legislature during this year's budget hearings. Schundler said local property taxes that pay for schools likely will go up 4 percent or less this year, which he said was lower than the average increase over the past 10 years. The average New Jersey property tax bill last year rose 3.3 percent, the smallest increase in a decade and the second year in a row taxes were increased less than 4 percent."

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by: toaonua @ Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 20:15:42 PM UTC

A Grand Slam For Christie... (0.00 / 0)

....don't get me wrong, I believe the bum is full of crap.....but you have to hand it to him, his performance on Imus was affable, amusing, friendly, strong, and funny!  Christie's jocular banter re "dating" Imus's wife had me laughing out loud.

The fact that he's wrong on the substance doesn't matter if he wins the political game and manages to convince people that all of New Jersey's problems are the fault of teachers and unions and Jon Corzine.

Christie called out Corzine as a LIAR!   And if Corzine actually said and did exactly what Christie says he said and did (re the budget shortfall numbers....a 500m surplus vs a 2B deficit???) , then he WAS lying!   Somehow I strongly doubt that that was the case, but will we now see Jon Corzine coming on to the Imus show to strongly rebut Chistie's ass?  I doubt it.

I can understand why staunch Democrats like Rocco Mazza find Christie's line of bullshit so appealing.    It was the same way with Bush....a superficially appealing line of bullshit that led to substantive policy disasters.....though this guy is a lot smarter than Bush (not much of a compliment there but you know what I mean ;-).

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by: Nick Lento @ Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 20:48:54 PM UTC

A misunderstanding or misrepresentation (0.00 / 0)

I would suspect that Corzine did talk to Christie about a $500 million surplus, but this was the surplus that had already been built into the current budget ending June 30. In fact, Christie in his own current revised budget, in spite of making cuts, is trying to maintain a year-end surplus. It was anyone's guess then and will remain uncertain until June 30 exactly what the final accounting will be.

It appears to me that Christie misunderstood or misrepresented what Corzine told him.  

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." - Sen. Ted Kennedy

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by: Bill Orr @ Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 23:49:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

well we've gone over this (0.00 / 0)

...while there was some worsening after Corzine left, in my opinion basically the two sides are just using different names for the same deficit. Corzine proposed taking the school surpluses to close the gap, Christie did it. Christie therefore says that means Corzine lied (because Corzine didn't do it himself) and Corzine presumably would say it means Corzine was right (Christie did exactly what Corzine proposed to close the deficit.) I think it's mostly BS.  Of course no reporter bothers with such details.  

As I think Patrick Murray has pointed out, much of Christie's projected "deficit" is stuff like  pension payments that he's simply not going to make. That means there still is a deficit (state did not make payment) despite there not being a deficit anymore (Christie decided not to make payment.) Corzine did the same thing so what can I say?

Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

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by: Hopeful @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 00:00:03 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Change your headline ! (0.00 / 0)

Christie never said HE was raising taxes .He did say property taxes will go up a little ....Which he has no controll of town spending  

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by: speedkillsu @ Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 21:29:21 PM UTC

Shell game (0.00 / 0)

What you say is literally true, but everyone knows that the revenue has to come from somewhere.  Part of the reasons that the states are in a financial bind is the cutbacks in federal aid during the bush years.  Now that the states are in financial trouble, the tax burden is moving down to the municipalities.  I guess that's what the GOP means by "trickle down"

Blog: http://www.deciminyan.org

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by: deciminyan @ Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 21:42:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Zactly (0.00 / 0)

But also, certain things should be handled by the municipalities.

-Jordan O

http://pinelandsprogressive.blogspot.com

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by: IndependentNJ @ Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 22:52:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

If I follow your logic... (0.00 / 0)

Last year, aid to schools was 11 billion with 1 billion in federal stimulus money, 10 billion in state funds.

This year, aid to schools will be 10.3 billion, with no federal money, and 10.3 billion in state funds.

If I follow your logic, Barack Obama has raised taxes because he has not provided the billion dollars from last year.

Christie has in fact lowered taxes because he is increasing the state contribution by 300,000,000 million.

Right?

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

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by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 12:46:27 PM UTC

22% tax increase (0.00 / 0)

Trenton's taxes are going up 22%, many in this city will lose their homes which will just exasperate this problem.

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by: bluescat1 @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 12:56:26 PM UTC