With Labor day marking the end of the traditional summer driving season, a newly released study shows that drivers in New Jersey are in the top 10 nationwide when it comes to how much taxes they pay when filling up at the pump.
According to the study, which was conducted by the nonpartisan group The Tax Foundation, which closely tracks state tax trends, following last year’s one cent per gallon tax increase, New Jersey now levies a total of 42.3 cents per gallon of unleaded regular fuel.
Overall, the average cost of a gallon of gasoline in New Jersey today is $3.22, with a slightly higher average of $3.24 in Ocean County.
Under a new law signed by Governor Phil Murphy earlier this year, the state’s gas tax will now rise by at least an additional two cents per gallon every year for the next five years in an effort to replenish the state’s Transportation Trust Fund.
This new hike was the first major change to the transportation trust fund revenue formula since 2016, when lawmakers approved a deal with then-Governor Chris Christie that reduced the state’s sales tax and eliminated its estate tax in exchange for more than doubling its levies on gasoline and diesel.
Before the 2016 law, New Jersey’s gas tax was the second lowest in the country.
The New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund, which is used to maintain and renovate the state’s roads, bridges and rail infrastructure, was established by the Legislature in 1984 and has since been reauthorized seven times.
According to the study, California had the highest tax, at 68.1 cents per gallon, while Alaska had the lowest, at just 8.95 cents per gallon. Neighboring Pennsylvania was third, with drivers there paying 58.7 cents per gallon.
Yet gas costs less than it does in neighboring states and we don’t have to get out and pump. We employ people.
Down with phill
We are also the only state that has a statewide full service mandate. Oregon has a county by county policy. 48 states don’t have it at all.
While I don’t mind it so much when it works well, there are issues whenever labor is short.
yet NJ gives you money to help purchase an EV and no money goes into the Transportation Trust Fund. Duh, an EV doesn’t use gas, an EV doesn’t pay gas taxes.
Let’s not forget Christie’s last day in office.
When he signed a nice gas tax increase.
RINO
Gas Tax is a red herring. All in, 45% of our money goes to taxes of some kind over the course of our lifetimes. 5 months, working for somebody else in the government is quite literally the definition of slavery. Wake up.