Christie slams Murphy over 'vilifying' EDA tax breaks.

Byline: Daniel J. Munoz

Former Republican Gov. Chris Christie tore into current Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy over his "vilified" depiction of the multi-billion

tax break program which he vastly expanded in 2013.

In a heavily-worded diatribe against Gov. Murphy over his stance on tax incentives, Christie, who served as governor for two terms, accused the current administration of making New Jersey "an inhospitable place to do business" because of the rhetoric around the Grow New Jersey tax breaks.

"You can't win the philosophical argument so what you do is vilify and lie about the program," Christie said at the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey's A Governor's Perspective event Wednesday morning in Woodbridge.

"If you listen to the governor, you would believe that billions of dollars in just my administration were going out the door in tax incentives," the former governor added. "This is a complete falsehood perpetuated by this administration to kill a program that they philosophically disagree with."

Christie's heavy criticism of Murphy over his portrayal of the tax break programs drew outstanding applause from the attendees at the Wednesday morning event.

Christie was also highly skeptical of Murphy's plans for a new set of tax incentives, which Murphy has said must be capped at $400 million a year.

"All 50 states give tax breaks. New Jersey's one of the highest-taxed states in the nation. If we don't give these tax incentives at an aggressive rate, we are going to lose just like we just lost Honeywell," Christie told reporters after the event. "And we lost Honeywell because this governor has set an atmosphere where you're attacking business, you're accusing them of being frauds."

Murphy has ramped up public scrutiny of the EDA following a January audit from the state comptroller's office which found the agency lacked oversight of billions of dollars in the Grow New Jersey tax break program vastly expanded in 2013 under Christie that he wants to replace when it expires in July.

Then in March, a report by WNYC shed light on a deposition by a former EDA official who alleged that the Christie administration pressured agency staff to churn out billions of dollars in tax breaks to businesses that never should have received those credits.

But Christie cast doubt on both aspects: the Murphy administration portrayed the $11 billion in the comptroller's audit as money that was lost, even though closer to $700 million was already given...

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