Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd of West Deptford, and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, D-32nd of Secaucus, announced the new deal Friday morning, saying it offers a way forward to break the current stalemate over the crucial trust fund, which is the state’s main tool for financing highway and bridge repairs and mass transit improvements.
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The bill approved by the Assembly impasse over how to fund the almost depleted transportation fund prompted Mr. Christie, a Republican, in late June to order all work stopped on a long list of transportation projects.
“This stalemate can not continue”, Prieto said in a statement.
“If we don’t correct this, you’re going to have thousands of people out of work”, Sweeney said.
Lawmakers now say they’ll OK a different plan Christie rejected – without his approval.
In an email Friday, Christie press secretary Brian Murray said Sweeney and Prieto “have not shared the specific details of their joint proposal with the Governor beyond the vague generalities contained in their press release”, and said Christie needed more specifics to determine whether the gas tax hike and corresponding cuts would provide tax fairness for residents.
Sweeney slammed the brakes on a deal brokered between Prieto and Christie that would have returned the sales tax from 7 to 6 percent.
Their plan drops a highly disputed jet fuel surcharge.
New Jersey now has the second-lowest gas tax in the nation at 14.5 cents per gallon.
The tax hike remains hugely unpopular with voters, however, according to polls conducted over the last 18 months by the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. Christie has expressed willingness to raise the gas tax, but he wants other taxes reduced to compensate.
It also includes an income tax deduction of up to $500 in gas taxes paid by New Jersey motorists earning as much as $100,000.
The total cost of both Democratic plans is roughly similar, Sweeney said – about $896 million a year once all the tax cuts and credits are phased in.
Christie’s office wasn’t immediately available to comment on the deal.
In addition to the governor’s reluctance, the Democratic proposal faces the same opposition as it did the first time around, and for the same reasons.
The new provisions for gas taxes and veterans’ income amount to around $43 million in savings for taxpayers. “We must get this done for the benefit of our state’s future”. Steve Oroho, R-Sussex, who co-wrote the Senate’s original plan.
“It has all the components that we’re looking for, and it’s something that we will support”, said New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Michael Egenton.
And then there’s the question of whether the proposal issued Friday moves the discussion forward at all.
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They’ll need either veto-proof majorities in both houses or to get Gov. Chris Christie on board. Transportation officials have estimated the state’s Transportation Trust Fund will run out of money by early August. Democrats are convening next week in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention, which ends Thursday. That means no action will take place before next Friday, when the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee is schedule to meet and vote on the plan.
