The news that Roche will close its Nutley plant is beyond sad, given the hardship that is certain to follow for the families that are taking this blow.

If you listen to Gov. Chris Christie, this is all about taxes. His economic program boils down to this single piece of dogma: Cut taxes, especially on the rich, and the economy will boom. Raise taxes, and you will kill jobs.

The Roche case shows that this formula is simplistic nonsense, and that there is much more to it. Note, first, that Roche had already moved its top executives and its sales and marketing operations to San Francisco, which has higher taxes than New Jersey. The work it now does in Nutley will move to Switzerland and Germany, two more places where taxes are higher than here.

These facts are not likely to penetrate the governor's conviction that lower taxes are the holy grail. President George W. Bush promised his tax cuts would create a jobs boom, and the strategy failed miserably, leaving behind only a mountain of debt. Now Mitt Romney promises more of the same. This stuff is baked into the GOP's DNA.

The reality is that many other factors are at play when a company selects a spot to invest. An educated workforce counts. A modern transportation system. The pharmaceutical companies that have left New Jersey often go to high-tax states, like California and Massachusetts, where they can form partnerships with elite research universities. Companies also look at quality of life, and good public schools for their kids, both major draws for high-tax New Jersey.

If it were all about taxes, then Mississippi's economy would be booming.

None of this is going to change the governor's mind. The political reality is that no Republican who is seeking higher office today, as our governor clearly is, can challenge the dogma. No matter how many facts get in the way.