Phil Murphy orders review of Chris Christie tax breaks

Gov. Phil Murphy ordered on Friday a review of Christie administration tax breaks, matching outspoken skepticism of the massive incentives offered by his Republican predecessor with his new executive authority. 

Murphy, a Democrat, signed an executive order directing the state comptroller's office to conduct a performance audit of programs used by the Economic Development Authority under Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who left office Tuesday. Murphy's office said the review will stretch back to Christie's first term, beginning in 2010, to assess the "economic benefits of past incentives." 

The incentives increased exponentially under Christie.

His administration awarded more than $8 billion in tax breaks over his eight years in office, nearly eight times the amount approved the previous decade, according to the left-leaning think-tank New Jersey Policy Perspective. That figure does not include the $5 billion in tax breaks the state approved to offer Amazon in an effort to lure it to Newark to build its second headquarters.

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Murphy's order, signed during a ceremony at Princeton's Tigerlabs, came a day after Amazon announced that Newark is one of 20 finalists for its new headquarters.

Murphy had supported the incentive package but was critical of Christie's past use of tax incentives. Like other skeptics, Murphy suggested the tax breaks were too large, often given to large corporations and resulted in questionable results for the state at a time when other programs went under-funded.  

“Tax incentives play a role in smart economic development,” Murphy said in a statement. “But they have to be the icing on the cake, not the cake itself. It’s hard to swallow when you see $8 billion in corporate tax breaks on one hand, and $8 billion in cuts to public education on the other. And it’s even harder to swallow when, at the same time we were handing out these billions in tax breaks, our economy continued to lag behind nearly everyone else in the nation. The people of New Jersey deserve to know what, exactly, they got for their $8 billion.”

Christie has defended his use of incentives as a necessary tool to keep and attract businesses during an economic recovery while competing with neighboring and lower-cost states. 

The review ordered by Murphy will "compare real-world economic impact of audits compared with projected benefits, examine the kind of jobs created, examine locations of jobs created, assess the decision-making process for applications, and examine fees spent on lobbyists and consultants," he said. 

The review is to start within 60 days and must be done by the end of the year. 

New Jersey Policy Perspective welcomed Murphy's directive, saying that such an evaluation is a critical part of comprehensive subsidy reforms. 

"A new direction is urgently needed, because the state can’t afford this subsidy largesse – both in terms of its direct, long-term drain on the state’s coffers and in terms of the opportunity costs created by having such a lopsided and flawed economic-development strategy," Jon Whiten, the organization's vice president, said in a statement.