Waiting for Christie to be specific on his budget is like waiting for Godot

I have a question for Republican candidate Chris Christie: When do you plan to explain how you can cut taxes, increase property tax rebates and balance a budget that already is expected to be $8 billion in the red next year? Because his public comments — mostly criticism of his opponents tax policies — leave me wondering whether he understands how budgets work.

Consider: If you cut taxes, you’re cutting revenue. That means the state has less money coming in, unless you can find a new source of cash to replace it. If you can’t — or won’t — you will need to make budget cuts to offset the lost revenue.

That’s how a family budget works. Think about a two-income family. If one person is laid off or quits his or her job, then that family has to account for the lost money, either by bringing in new money or reducing the amount going out. That person can find a job or a couple of part-time jobs. The remaining breadwinner can get a second job or someone else in the family can go to work. The alternative is making cuts in what each member spends — driving less, going out to eat less frequently, stretching food or other supplies for longer periods and so on. But the family cannot continue to spend at the same level when less money is coming in.

It works the same way with a state budget.

Christie has been talking about his plan — a vague promise to cut waste and end corruption. OK. If he wins, I hope he’s successful at doing that. The reality is, however, that the waste and fraud he’s talking about will not result in enough savings to cover his own promises, let alone the anticipated deficit.

Unless, of course, he has a different definition of what wasteful spending might be (cutting programs with which he disagrees, for instance) or plans to borrow to plug the gap. If those are possibilities, he needs to say so. New Jersey voters need to know what programs might be on the chopping block under a Christie administration.

If he’s not thought that out, he needs to explain that, as well, so that voters know he is making bogus promises.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet