DAYTON, NJ — Republican candidate Chris Christie yesterday told New Jersey voters that next month’s gubernatorial election boils down to how they feel about taxes — and about tax-happy Gov. Jon Corzine.
“I have a very clear plan — it’s just very different from his. His is to increase taxes and to increase spending. Mine is to cut taxes and cut spending,” Christie said.
He said the Garden State’s woeful economy, high unemployment rate and poor business climate were due to “the policies we’ve pursued of tax and spend — and don’t forget borrow.”
“We are losing citizens by the bucketload. They are leaving because they can’t afford to live here,” he said.
Christie added, “Thousands of people who work in New Jersey state government live in Pennsylvania” — which has lower taxes.
A Corzine campaign spokeswoman, Lis Smith, said Christie’s “reckless economic plans would lead to higher taxes and higher unemployment across New Jersey.”
She said Christie “would target tax breaks to the very wealthy and big corporations” but would reject stimulus funds that would “lead to a $2 billion property-tax hike” and jeopardize 35,000 teacher jobs.
“He continues to show that he is extremely wrong when it comes to what matters for New Jersey,” Smith said.
During his time in Trenton, Corzine raised the state’s sales tax by 1 percentage point, increased income taxes on the wealthy and eliminated some deductions for residents earning more than $150,000. In his current campaign, he’s refused to rule out new tax hikes.
“If you like what you’ve got, if you think we’re going in the right direction, then I’m going to urge you to vote for Jon Corzine,” said Christie, a former US attorney.
“In Trenton, when it comes to taxes, the sun never sets,” he added to big applause.
jennifer.fermino@nypost.com