It has been more than a year since the Christie administration ended, but it turns out it left one last surprise for New Jersey’s workers and taxpayers, according to an audit released by the New Jersey State Comptroller last month.
The report suggests that, under former Gov. Chris Christie, the Economic Development Authority (EDA) gave away billions of dollars in tax credits to some of the most profitable corporations in the world through an $11-billion dollar series of tax-subsidy programs.
The comptroller’s report, however, found a severe lack of oversight. Corporations were, in most situations, allowed to self-report, and often manipulated or obscured details in order to inflate their contributions to our economy: “In 24 of the 37 sampled projects, about 65%, we found close to 3,000 recipient-reported jobs that were not substantiated as having been created or retained.” It is estimated that one in five jobs were not substantiated.
Read the full opinion-editorial by Brandon Castro, WEC campaign organizer for Runaway Inequality.
