(TRENTON) – Assembly Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) released the following statement following the governor’s budget address:
“I agree with the Governor that real leadership will turn New Jersey around. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for real leadership.
“With his proposal to spend $2 billion more than last year while cutting taxes, Gov. Christie’s budget address was a masterful piece of political theater meant to divert attention from the problems facing New Jersey’s middle class.
“It relies on exceedingly optimistic revenue forecasts to justify his proposal to cut income taxes and turns a blind eye to the fact that our property taxes and state debt continue to rise.
“His income tax proposal would reward New Jersey’s wealthiest residents with thousands of dollars while most of us would be lucky to get $100 in tax relief while continuing to face higher property taxes. It amounts to nothing more than the same trickle-down economics that has been destroying the economic security of hard working families for years.
“The governor’s proposed budget once again sacrifices New Jersey’s middle class to his national ambitions. It is a political document that ignores New Jersey’s problems and rejects New Jersey values so that he can appeal to national Republicans and Tea Party activists. In short, it is less about New Jersey in 2012 than it is about Iowa in 2016.”