New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday he plans to assess the economic impact of Hurricane Sandy before he renews his call for a state income tax cut.
The Republican governor has been calling for tax cuts for the past year, but the devastation caused by Sandy has forced him to reconsider, according to
Bergen Country Record.
The storm put people out of work all along the New Jersey coast, and stores and businesses are empty. But Christie said the rebuilding effort should boost the state's economy and help raise new revenues from December through next June.
“That rebuilding is going to require the purchase of enormous amounts of supplies, the employment of people who would not have been employed otherwise,” Christie told reporters Monday after touring the FEMA Joint Field Office in Lincroft. He said businesses will have an opportunity to make more money than they had projected.
The exact amount of property damages hasn’t been determined in New Jersey, where the storm killed 33 people. But Christie said state officials should have an a figure today or tomorrow.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, meanwhile, has said he’ll request $30 billion in federal aid and ask for 100 percent reimbursement.
Christie noted the combined damage in New York and New Jersey makes Sandy “the second-worst hurricane in the country’s history, just behind Katrina,” which killed 1,800 people and caused $81 billion in damages.
Meanwhile, many New Jersey residents are starting to go back to their routines. Schools reopened for the first time since Oct. 29, and odd-even gas rationing ended at 6 a.m. today.
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