Chris Christie Visits 'Good Day'

PHILADELPHIA - It's sure to be a heated election in New Jersey this fall as Gov. Jon S. Corzine faces off against Republican opponent Chris Christie.

Long before you head to the polls in November, we want to make sure you know exactly how both candidates plan to fix the states rising debt and a multibillion-dollar budget deficit and how much your tax dollars they'll need to do it.

Christie, a former prosecutor, said Friday morning on "Good Day Philadelphia" that the state is 50th in business tax climate, 50th in small business survival and has the highest tax burden in America, summarizing, "It couldn't be worse if you're in New Jersey."

Is it possible that's not the fault of Corzine, who's a former Wall Street CEO, but just things are bad?

"No," Christie answered. "I think over the last seven years -- the governors' been there for three-and-a-half of them -- we've raised taxes in our state and fees 108 times. When you do that, you drive people from the state."

Christie said the tax rate difference between Pennsylvania and New Jersey is a big reason why people are coming across the river.

As for the $400 million windfall in revenues from a tax amnesty program -- which Corzine has said should go back to the people in property tax relief -- Christie said, "It should wind up being tax cuts because people are hurting in our state, and they need that money back because they're having trouble making ends meet."

The Republican challenger went on, "The problem is the governor's mismanagement, not knowing that this money was there. We get different projections every day for how good or bad things are, and we wonder, how good are the governor's projections? … He's been so wrong so many times that you really start to wonder what the truth is."

Fox 29's Steve Kelley asked about the Delaware River Port Authority and whether Christie would stand up to Pennsylvania, vetoing the second dollar of a bridge toll hike or shake up New Jersey's representation on the board?

"You're absolutely right about the DRPA problem, and I'll tell you this: I would not have approved that toll hike. But Governor Corzine, that is his typical way to go. … All the governor wants is more revenue for government all the time. He wants to grow government. So, I would definitely have stopped it and, if elected in November, I'm going to look at every way to roll it back."

As for changes to the board's makeup, Christie said, "You can count on the fact that we're going to look at making changes."

Critics are still talking about no-bid contracts and Christie defending his brother.

He reacted by saying, "There weren't any no-bid contracts. What people need to understand is there's not a dime of taxpayer money spent to bring criminal corporations under control when I was a U.S. Attorney," adding that all of it was paid for by the corporations themselves that committed the crimes.

"I think that's what people want," he said. "No taxpayer money spent, money spent by criminals who have broken the law to put things right."