Christie Takes Mild Swipe at Cuomo on Tax Plan Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey struck a remarkably friendly tone in his State of the State speech on Tuesday, but that didn't stop him from taking a swipe across the Hudson River at Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (though he did call him "my friend Andrew Cuomo"). Mr. Christie, a Republican who many see as a potential presidential contender, proposed a 10 percent cut in income taxes for all New Jersey residents, which would be phased in over three years. He knows that the Democrats who control the State Legislature would prefer a so-called millionaires" tax, raising the marginal tax rate on the state's highest earners. Their plan would look more like the one negotiated in New York last month by Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who many also see as a potential presidential contender, and a possible rival for Mr. Christie in 2016. "Make no mistake; we are in a competition," Mr. Christie told the Legislature. But no, he didn't mean for the White House. "A competition for jobs," he said. Among countries, yes, but also among states. "Now, some will argue, "Wait a minute, New York only raised taxes on the rich. Why not adopt Governor Cuomo's package for New Jersey?"" Mr. Christie said. But if New Jersey enacted the same rates as New York, he said, every person earning less than $100,000 would also get a tax increase, in some cases paying double what they do now. Any by the way, those earning a million dollars would get a tax cut. Is that what we want?" he said. Is that fairness? That might be true if New York's income tax brackets were simply exported to New Jersey. But his remarks made it look as if Mr. Cuomo had agreed to raise taxes on the middle class. In fact, New York's plan lowered its tax rate on those earning less than $150,000 - even Republican leaders praised the plan for lowering personal income taxes to their lowest rate in 50 years. And New York's highest earners will be taxed at a lower rate than they were last year because a tax surcharge that applied to them expired at the end of last year. But their new tax rate, at least through 2014, will still be higher than it would have been without any changes to the income tax brackets. New York's new top tax bracket, 8.82 percent through 2014, ranks among the highest in the country. But it is still lower than New Jersey's current 8.97 percent, the nation's highest rate.