Chris Christie damaged New Jersey’s economy by propping up the richest Americans and big corporations, while leaving working people in the dust. 

Christie proposed tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations at the expense of the middle class.

Asbury Park Press: “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unveiled a sweeping federal tax cut plan in New Hampshire on Tuesday that some say is an attempt to resurrect his fading presidential campaign. Christie supporters say it’s a bold, Reagan-esque move, but economists say his proposal is flawed and would likely end up hurting the middle class. Christie’s plan would reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% and lower income taxes for all earners. Income taxes would be reduced by more than 11% for the country’s wealthiest.”

“But the ‘revenue-neutral’ plan means money would have to come from somewhere else. … ‘It would have to mean a cut in the property tax deduction, the mortgage tax deduction, or lots of cuts in deductions and credits for child care,’ [finance and economics professor Steven] Pressman said. … The middle- and upper-middle classes are the ones that would be hurt by eliminating property and mortgage income tax deductions.”

Associated Press: “Under Republican Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey has authorized more than $2 billion in economic development tax breaks since 2014, often to corporations with notable political connections. One grant went to a developer who owes millions of dollars on an unpaid state loan, an Associated Press review found. That total of tax breaks handed out by New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority is more than the total amount issued during the decade before Christie took office.” 

Christie also vetoed minimum wage increases and the expansion of paid family leave for working New Jerseyans.

Star-Ledger: “Gov. Chris Christie rejected a bill today to raise the minimum wage and countered with a proposal of his own, virtually ensuring Democrats will ask voters in November whether they favor a $1-an-hour increase. Christie said the Democrats’ bill, which would have raised the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 and tied future increases to the rate of inflation, would have hurt the state’s economy.”

NJ.com: “In July, Christie partially vetoed a bill (A4927) expanding paid leave for New Jersey workers caring for a new child or sick relative. His conditional veto struck the expansion of benefits under the program and job protections it would have offered for certain workers taking leave.”