New Jersey’s gas tax is the second lowest in the country after Alaska, and hasn’t gone up since the late ‘80s.
But transit advocates says that low, low cost comes with consequences.
Most of the gas tax goes to the Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for the state’s share of transportation projects – from fixing bridges to filling potholes and repairs for NJ Transit.
Because the tax is so low, the fund hasn’t had enough money to cover its costs. That’s led to a lot of borrowing, and some creative financing. And now even that money is now running out.
“Until we find a new source of revenues to support this, the transportation fund is going to be in real crisis,” said Thomas Wright of the Regional Plan Association.
State Senator Ray Lesniak thinks he has a solution. Over three years, he wants to raise the gas tax by 15 cents. He says that will cost drivers under $100 annually, less than the $600 on average they spend on repairs because of bad roads.
“It’s something that the time has come. We just have to bite the bullet and do it,” he said.
Many transit advocates want to go even higher. They say every penny that’s added to the gas tax amounts to $50 million more in transportation spending. They also want additional fees for electric vehicles.
Governor Chris Christie, however, has pledged repeatedly that he won’t raise taxes. Read more in WNYC.
i don’t know where they think gas is cheap but it is not ! further more . we do not need to raise taxes on anything, we need to stop spending over out heads
you could have raised it when the economy was doing good
now its bad and people are struggling to pay their bills etc.. so don’t raise it Mr governor
If the gas tax goes up, all those people who now wait to fill their tank in New Jersey will no longer do so, resulting in lower overall gas sales. Did they factor that in?
NJ is also one of the few states with no self service gas. Seems to me that if you eliminated the gas attendants there would be considerable savings
Yes, please raise the gas tax. I would like the gas tax to be raised at least another $0.75 per gallon. Soak the rich! Get as much money as possible out of all the rich people in NJ who own cars! Us poor people who don’t own cars are subsidizing the rich car-owners (corporate welfare) and its time to stop this craziness. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Tax ’em all and give me more food stamps.
Now, back to Facebook…….
@ NJ Terp
NJ drivers actually pay less for gas in part because we have fuel attendants. States where there is self serve have to pay more to cover the higher insurance costs stations have from allowing the public to fill there own tanks. They have higher rates of fuel theft and accidents while filling such as spills, forgetting to remove the nozzle and even fires.
I agree with nj terp that if they get rid of the gas attendants that would be
around $300 a day per gas station and then they will have the funds
According to AAA, cars are more fuel efficient, and raising gas taxes is not the solution.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/budget_2015/031814/Lewis_C.pdf
Wait? We have cheap gas or the cheapest gas tax? There is a difference. We do not have the cheapest gas. And when you consider the ports of entry in Elizabeth are ours, it should be way cheaper, still.