Despite both the state Assembly and Senate voting to approve a tax credit for NJ home buyers, Gov. Christie vetoed the program on July 23. The NJ Home Buyer Tax Credit Program would have allowed home buyers could claim a credit of either $15,000 or 5% of the home purchase price over the course of three years following the home purchase in 2010. $75 million of the $100 million total to be allocated for the credit would have been for the purchase of new homes, to increase the state's construction as well as provide new jobs for construction workers. The other $25m was to go to those buying resales (older homes). Like the Cash-for-Clunkers program, the $100m total was to be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis.

Assemblymen and state Senators both pointed to the increase in jobs the credit would have brought, not just in the field of construction but also for home contractors, furniture makers, and all the industries involved in building and outfitting new houses. But Gov. Christie has long made it clear that he was against the credit, for the simple reason that the state does not have the money (yet he found $875m available for the embarrassing Xanadu shopping center in the Meadowlands...).