NJ politics and you - screwed up together. The OLS issues a budget notice finding that the state will end with a deficit of more than $600 million, and yet Gov. Christie (a Republican) and State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (Democrat) are pushing ahead with a compromise tax cut plan that the two hashed out that will cost even more money and requires one-shot borrowing from the state’s nearly empty transportation trust fund to balance the budget).

Disregard the budget deficit and go with the tax cuts because it will mean votes in November. Throw fiscal responsibility out the window for a few votes. That’s what this is all about.

Sweeney’s trying to convince his caucus to go along with this (even as some members had been pushing for a different kind of property tax relief - still costly, but touted as more focused tax breaks for the middle class than the governor’s income tax cuts, which would help the high income earners more).