Bingo, if there is a rise (coupled with tax fairness) it needs to be put into a lockbox.

The reason the Transportation Trust Fund broke because it was repeatedly raided to be added to the general revenues and therefore spent on non-transportation related expenses. Then the legislature borrows in order to replenish the funds, hoping that future gas tax, car registration, and tolls will pay off the debt. Much of the current revenue is going towards debt service.

If the gas tax is raised, what will prevent the raids from continuing?

I'm not sure if you remember the 6 billion dollar school building fund, which spent every penny and built about 2 billion dollars worth of schools. Money stolen that should have gone to education infrastructure. Multiply that 10X and you get an idea of the graft and waste in NJ transportation spending. Our second most expensive state is Massachusetts, not exactly in Podunk-and they spend half of what we do.

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I have a problem with the governor being dishonest with the taxes. Just recently he lowered how much someone could possibly pay when purchasing a boat. That's revenue that we will lose out on. It's also revenue that those purchasing the boats would be able to afford.

I don't have a problem paying workers more money. I have a problem with the idea that we're paying so much more and not getting more for the dollar. In truth, the cost of living in Missouri is so vastly lower that you can easily pay some highway worker a much lower amount. However, the same highway worker here is dealing with a different cost of living.

I had a friend move to Idaho. The cost of living was such that someone getting minimum wage could practically afford an apartment. Does that mean that someone getting minimum wage here could afford an apartment?

We're number two in the lowest gas tax, but also one of only two states with inheritance AND estate tax. Sadly, the Democrats don't seem to acknowledge that a gas tax is amongst the most regressive taxes you can give the poor. Nor do they want to change prevailing wage rules, which results in NJ spending almost double the cost of construction of the closest state, and about 8X the national average. Just think how much farther that money would go?

He's definitely correct in stating that the Democratic Legislature will go nowhere close to a tax hike prior to elections. He's dead wrong in arguing for "tax fairness" which is well established as poor wordplay that really means increasing the tax on lower income households.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/ ... ax.html#incart_river_home

But wants tax fairness as part of the equation. Interestingly he notes that 48 Democratic state legislators are up for election in November, so they'll avoid proposing a gas tax hike BEFORE the election like dodging the third rail on the subway. It's similar to when Corzine could've passed gay marriage as Governor, but the Legislature didn't want to vote on it and have it on their records.