By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Negotiations are still underway between the Administration and the Legislature as they attempt to shore up the close-to-busted New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund, Save Jerseyans.
Gov. Christie is on record opposing an increase but, in recent months, there’s reason to believe that his opposition may be softening. Democrats aren’t as conflicted; they’ve conducted a series of hearings on the issue, and they’ve pitched a number of possible short-term fixes ranging from tripling the current gas tax to expanding the scope of our current state sales tax to cover gasoline. As always, Dems are pretending that “new revenues” (code: taxing you so we don’t have to make hard decisions) is the only option.
Your favorite Save Jersey bloggers know better; we’ve posted several alternatives to gas tax hikes.
The battle is also being waged outside of the State House. Our friends at AFP-NJ are adopting a different tack, offering a chance to win a $300 gas gift card by signing its petition in opposition to a gas tax hike (you can click here to add your name).
On the other side of the fence is ForwardNJ, a coalition of labor/business/government affairs organizations advocating for conversation followed by a comprehensive solution which would include a gas tax hike. They’re out with two new radio ads today, too, one of which, titled “Falling Down,” features a small girl signing a haunting rendition of the classic nursery rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down” while a narrator intermittently breaks in to warn of dangerous consequences for public safety if something isn’t done to ensure the maintenance of the Garden State’s 479 bridges.
Spooky stuff! In fact, it reminded me of another infamously-effective ad from the annals of American political history, a TV spot that only aired once:
[Note: a federal investigation revealed that the Minnesota bridge collapse had nothing to do with federal funding.]
How will it all end up?
No one is sure. It’s all part of a national conversation at a time when gasoline prices are plummeting under pressure from a Saudi vs. American shale supply battle; ironically, some federal GOP’ers are leading the charge for a federal gas tax increase.
A handful of conservative Republicans here at home are pushing for offsetting tax cuts elsewhere if the gas tax goes up but, as with most things in New Jersey at the moment, the Governor and a handful of machine-backed legislators are making all of the decisions. 2011 Redistricting strikes again…
