N.J. Gov. Christie hesitates to approve $100M homebuyer tax credit

Christie spokesman says 'We simply don't have the money to spare'

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerNew Jersey Gov. Chris Christie surrounded by state lawmakers in this photo taken earlier this year.

TRENTON — A $100 million home-buyer tax credit program that sailed through the Legislature hit resistance today from Gov. Chris Christie, whose office raised doubts about whether the state can afford it.

"It’s a nice idea to help stimulate home buying in New Jersey," Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said. "It comes at the right time in that sense, but it’s the wrong time in that we simply don’t have the money to spare for the tax credit ... We are open to ideas, but that’s a real problem."

Under the bill (A1678), home buyers would get $15,000 in tax credits over three years or 5 percent of their homes’ purchase price, whichever is less. Most of the program’s money — $75 million — would be set aside for new homes, but $25 million would be reserved for resold homes.

Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Lou Greenwald (D-Camden) said he was "dumbfounded" that Christie was hesitant to sign the bill because it would generate more than $100 million in tax revenue by spurring the home building industry.

"The governor is better than this," said Greenwald, a sponsor. "By not signing this bill, you are worsening this problem and looking at it from a short-sighted mindset."

Greenwald said there were only 12,000 home-construction permits issued this year, compared with 38,000 a year in the 1980s and 1990s.

"In our six months in Trenton, we have heard from Assemblyman Greenwald either his eagerness to spend and restore funding or his unrelenting criticism of budget cuts, as though there is no $11 billion deficit. Now that is dumbfounding," said Drewniak.

Building industry lobbyists estimated the tax credit would generate $208 million in state and local taxes.

"For every new home that’s built, there’s sales tax that goes into the materials that go into the construction of the home, payroll taxes to the employees working to construct the home, income tax for the employees and the builders themselves, sales tax for all of the furnishings and home improvement," said Tom Critelli, president of the New Jersey Builders Association.

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