New Jersey Governor Chris Christie defended his estimates of how much tax revenue the state will collect by December — but the governor’s call for a tax cut is in jeopardy because the state may be short $253 million of projections, a report released Monday found.

The report was published by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.

The revenue projections are a key political dispute between Christie and Democrats in the New Jersey Legislature about whether the state can afford to cut taxes. 

Christie wants a tax cut now. But residents wouldn't see any possible cut until the they filed their returns next year, when revenues would be fully tallied.

That  shortfall is half of what David Rosen, the Office of Legislative Services budget analyst, estimated earlier this year.

Christie accused the OLS of "playing politics."