GOP Tax Cut Hits Many NJ Homeowners Hard, Governor Among Them
TRENTON, NJ. (CBS) -- Homeowners who will see their ability to deduct real estate and local taxes limited are among those none too thrilled with President Trump's tax cut plan. And you can count New Jersey's Governor among them.
In meeting with reporters in Trenton on Wednesday, Chris Christie noted he pays $41,000 in taxes on his Mendham home. So his bottom line tax bill, he figures, is going up $31,000. Mind you, there is a solution.
"We can do something to fix this, and we should," the Governor said. "In my view, we should make property taxes on our state income tax returns completely deductible in response to what the federal government has done."
So how much would that cost?
"I asked the treasurer to score this for me and he said it's about $150 million to $170 million cost to make property taxes fully deductible for everybody in New Jersey," Christie added.
The governor says he'd probably sign such a bill, if Democrats could get it to him before January 16th, when he makes way for Democrat Phil Murphy. But that's highly unlikely. Still, there's nothing stopping legislators from trying to get the governor-elect on board with the idea.