newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ADELE SAMMARCO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

In direct response to Governor Christie’s across-the-board 10 percent income tax cut plan, New Jersey Democrats are now countering with a proposal of property-tax credits for residents earning as much as $250,000.

Leading the charge, Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D) of West Deptford called for giving middle-class families a 10 percent property-tax credit on their income-tax returns, he said would alleviate a pressing burden, and proposes to double that property-tax credit to 20 percent.

Democrats, who control both houses of the New Jersey state Legislature, say Christie’s plan favors the wealthy and does not focus on easing every homeowners’ property-tax burden.

Garden State residents pay the highest property taxes in the nation where their bills averaged $7,759 in 2011, up 2.4 percent from 2010, according to the state Department of Community Affairs.

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Christie fought back saying he “turned Trenton on its head” by forcing Democrats to debate cuts in a state he says has raised taxes and fees 115 times in the decade before taking office.

“This is a very simple plan, this is not complex,” Sweeney said. “We’re taking resources that the governor says are available and putting them on the tax that is the most pressing tax for the people of the state of New Jersey, the property tax, not the income tax.”

Sweeney’s plan would cost about $174 million in the budget year that starts July 1st and would rise to $1.4 billion by the fourth year while according to Bloomberg, Governor Christie’s 10 percent tax cut plan would cost $183 million in the next budget and $1.1 billion by the fourth year.

Christie began marketing his 10 percent tax cut plan by holding public meetings since the beginning of the year labeling it the, “Jersey comeback.”

During a radio interview on New Jersey’s 101.5, the Governor said he and Sweeney both agree on the need to cut income levies, but disagree over how.