SEPTEMBER 28, 2015, 10:58 AM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2015, 11:05 AM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
Governor Christie will not consider legislation to increase the state’s gas tax, unless it is paired with reductions to other taxes in New Jersey, he said Monday.
Christie did not say definitively which taxes should be cut, but he mentioned New Jersey’s estate tax and inheritance tax — noting that New Jersey and Maryland are the only states in the country that have both.
The dual “death taxes” are preventing New Jersey from being “competitive,” Christie said. A common complaint from state residents, he said, boils down to, “It’s not that I can’t afford to live here; I can’t afford to die here.
“Republicans should not be giving away any votes for an increase in the gas tax — none, zero — unless whatever is presented represents tax fairness for the people of New Jersey,” Christie said at a breakfast hosted by the New Jersey Commerce and Industry Association in Morris County.
Christie also made reference to the state income tax and “a number of other taxes that could stand some reducing,” giving few specifics.
