WOODBRIDGE — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may propose business- and income-tax cuts as soon as January, said Robert Grady, chairman of the governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. Christie and Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff are evaluating options for reducing individual and corporate taxes, Grady said at a conference of business owners in Woodbridge today. The deliberations include discussions with employers...
State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff in this May 2010 photo.WOODBRIDGE — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may propose business- and income-tax cuts as soon as January, said Robert Grady, chairman of the governor’s Council of Economic Advisors.
Christie and Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff are evaluating options for reducing individual and corporate taxes, Grady said at a conference of business owners in Woodbridge today.
The deliberations include discussions with employers about whether potential reductions would improve the state’s economic climate and create jobs, Grady said. Any moves, which also may include changes in tax calculations, would need to preserve a balanced budget, he said.
“It’s a top to bottom reassessment,” Grady said at the forum. “Step one was stemming growth in spending and 115 tax increases in the prior decade. Step two is looking at reductions.”
Christie will seek to lower the state tax burden during his term to the level before Democrat James McGreevey took office in 2002, Grady said. Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie, declined in an e- mail to comment on Grady’s remarks.
The governor, 48, closed a $10.7 billion deficit without raising taxes in his $29.3 billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. In May, he vetoed an attempt by the Democrats who control the Legislature to re-authorize a lapsed income-tax surcharge on residents earning more than $1 million a year.
Christie faces a deficit of as much as $10.5 billion in the next fiscal year, the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services estimated in July.
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