New data from state Treasury Department indicates tax collections were up for the third month in a row in February.

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The numbers show tax collections were 9 and a half percent above initial estimates, much to the delight of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

"We have now a full quarter of the year where we've exceeded expectations - our own projections - the ones that everybody said were crazy - we've now exceeded those," said the Governor.

"The question becomes, what do the next 4 months look like? I don't have a crystal ball, but I see the trend of the last 3 months and I'm hopeful the trend will continue."

He pointed out realty transfer, income and sales tax have all been rising lately. Despite these gains, Christie said the plan is still to push back the delivery of homestead rebate checks this year, from May to August, unless revenue collections spike significantly.

"We had a deadline so the towns could get their bills out, so I didn't feel like I could roll the dice.  However as we move forward we're continually reevaluating as we continue to get more data," said Christie.

Christie is also again criticizing Dr. David Rosen, who heads up the Office of Legislative Services. He predicts Dr. Rosen, who he labeled "the Doctor Kevorkian of numbers" last year, will be 6 to 7 hundred million dollars off in his income tax collection projections for the State.

 

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