New Jersey Pol: Jersey Shore Disparages State Yet Costs Tax Payers $420,000

New Jersey tax payers might soon be paying a little something extra in Snooki tax. Yesterday the state’s Economic Development Authority awarded the production company working on MTV’s Jersey Shore a $420,000 film tax credit which means that, unless state Sen. Joe Vitale‘s calls for a veto are answered, Garden State residents will soon be helping to fund Snooks’ fake-tan habit.

Gov. Chris Christie briefly suspended the film tax credit program in 2010 in hopes of closing the state’s deficit, and Jersey Shore‘s credit is one of the first to be approved since it’s recent reinstating. Credits are awarded blind to content (provided it’s not pornographic) on a first-come-first-serve basis. The $420,000 figure seems rather inconsequential, especially given the scale of the cast member’s salaries, and the fight seems to be mostly one of pride.

According to Vitale, the show “is disparaging to Italian Americans” and should not be rewarded by the state. Christie has in the past voiced similar concerns, saying that the cast — hailing in large part from New York — gives New Jersey a bad name. He has even gone so far as to ask NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo to “Take them back. We don’t want them.”

The mayor of Seaside, the Shore town where MTV films, sort of sounds like he does want them, though. “The boost to the economy certainly shows, when they are here this place is busy,” said Mayor P. Kenneth Hershey. “A lot of the business folks here appreciate that.”

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