Governor Christie Proposes Much Needed Spending Cuts for New Jersey

Governor Chris Christie announced his proposed list of spending cuts across the board on Thursday, February 11^th. In his speech , Christie asserted, "Today, we come to terms with the fact that we cannot spend money on everything we want. Today, the days of Alice in Wonderland budgeting in Trenton end,”…and he’s right about this. His plan includes cutting spending in 375 different government programs to close the $2 billion dollar budget gap brought about by the previous governor’s irresponsible fiscal policies. Governor Corzine spent over $7 billion dollars and pushed New Jersey to lead all states in tax increases during his time as governor. Christie is looking for the long term solution to Corzine’s spending spree. Here is a glimpse of where some of the cuts are being made:

• Cutting the "InvestNJ" program, which has failed to actually create new jobs, will save taxpayers $50 million.
• Subsidies for the New Jersey Transit need to be cut. The transit system must improve its efficiency through rethinking their union contracts and patronage hiring, or even through service reductions or fare increases.
• Making cuts within the pension system is a must; the state cannot afford to spare $100 million for a system in need of reform.
• School aid will also see dramatic cuts—the amount of aid to be withheld is $475 million.

While some of these cuts may be tough to deal with initially, Governor Christie is taking a major step in the right direction. His business-minded approach to improving the government’s efficiency will lead to less wasted money. Putting a stop to automatic annual renewals for spending will weed out the ineffective state programs. Christie’s proposal to make programs accountable for the results they produce will eliminate several of the unnecessary usages of taxpayer money. If the deficit is reduced through spending cuts, the government can keep taxes down, while simultaneously being able to achieve a more efficient economy.

Comments (1)

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I love your Governor already! This is what we need country wide.
>> John February 18, 2010 9:15 pm

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