NJ Property Tax Burden Soars 13 Under Chris Christie

The net household property tax burden in New Jersey rose 13 percent during Gov. Chris Christie's first three years in office — a number that reflects both his success in reining in local government spending and his inability to restore a relief program that was gutted by his predecessor during the Great Recession, an Associated Press analysis of tax data has found.

The growth is only slightly lower than it was in the last three years of Democrat Jon Corzine's time as governor, when the net tax bill went up 15 percent.

But it reflects a different approach: Christie, a Republican, has gone further to force local governments to keep costs down — and give them help doing it. Corzine also tried to control local government costs but did much of his work on trying to control taxes by expanding a rebate program, which he then cut.

More