VIDEO: Christie touts ‘tax fairness,’ scraps with press over 11th hour TTF negotiations

By The Staff | The Save Jersey Blog

There’s no deal…. yet.

But New Jersey’s chief executive lauded the Assembly’s efforts to pass a 23-cent gas hike coupled with a modest sales tax cut and, with an eye on the State Senate, insisted Trenton was moving forward without further delay.

“Every New Jersey benefits from the sales tax cut,” Christie told reporters on Wednesday afternoon at a presser designed, in his words, to give the press “the right numbers” as they cover the ongoing struggle over what a gas tax increase-centric solution will look like. According to the Governor, while progress has been made towards a compromise, the Senate is still dragging its feet and works still needs to be done.

The Republican Governor also said he looks forward to the debate over the next 48 hours before the trust fund goes bust on July 1st, categorically rejecting a report that the Assembly version was DOA in the Senate  although, as the 3:00 pm presser dragged on, he frequently drank water and appeared to be losing his voice….

“The fact is that we need to spend this money in order to continue to modernize our roads, our bridges and, importantly, our mass transit system,” he said.

In the past, Christie remained non-committal on a gas tax hike but consistently rejected the State Senate-backed proposal.

Watch:

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