lol. conservatives are suddenly concerned about higher gas/sales taxes on the poor

We're pretty much the highest taxed state in the country-so let's raise the one tax that's reasonable, and will impact poor people the most!

Fulop is pandering to unions and greenies, but he's risking pissing off drivers from outside urban areas who will remember this come election time. It's because this issue is so contentious that no one in the Legislature has been willing to sponsor a bill to achieve this.

Yes, gas taxes are to some degree inherently regressive in a vacuum, affecting particularly the working poor living far from mass transit, and also adding yet another expense for the cash-poor middle class.

There are many potential remedies for that; for one, instead of "balancing" them with tax breaks for the rich, you can make some other tax more progressive instead.

Gas taxes also should go partially toward building, expanding, maintaining, and fare-subsidizing mass transit, biking, walking, etc., and not just to roads, to give at least some drivers (greener, cheaper, more sustainable) alternatives. That's politically daunting, perhaps impossible, and maybe there can't be a direct link, but then those other modes must be funded some other way.

But when I think about gas taxes and gas price fluctuations, I mainly think about how reliably they affect the rates of violent road death and grievous injury, air pollution death and disability, asthma, etc., etc.?all by making driving more or less attractive. That's the most important effect of gas taxes.

When gas pump prices are lower, all those disasters are more frequent?and all of them disproportionately afflict low-income people, whether they drive, or work, or not. And all this destruction inflicts huge, cascading costs throughout society and government.

So keeping gas taxes lower in the U.S., and in NJ, than practically anywhere else is hardly a progressive victory. Raise them.

Quote:

And that's exactly the wrong approach! It's very regressive. Yes, gas taxes are supposed to go to roads, and it's been raided for budget holes. Those budgets are supposed to come from sales and income taxes, which are more progressive as in the wealthier tend to pay more, unlike gas where it's way more level.

But our gas taxes are very low and should probably be raised to be more in line with our neighbors, so maybe bullshit like diverting federal tunnel money to roads won't be so attractive to governors.

gas taxes should have been raised a long time ago...maybe use higher gas taxes to offset reduced property and/or income taxes

Quote:

Yep, and how to reval homes fairly on a regular basis.

Your points are exactly why I became sour on him shortly after he took office. Lots of smoke and mirrors and talk. Its really disappointing and frankly, I feel kind of duped.

Just from a strategic point of view, why come out with this now? So early in the race, he's positioning himself as the candidate that wants to tax consumers. Even if it is a "good idea," all the average voter will hear is, "Steven Fulop wants to raise the price of gas." They'll remember him as that guy. Optics, man, optics!

This is a perfect example of why the Mayor's years-long obsession with being governor is a negative for Jersey City. While you are looking for every opportunity to inject yourself into any topic in an attempt to look gubernatorial and Christie's equal, your job is going undone, Steve. Could there be a better juxtaposition to an op-ed about how badly the state needs infrastructure repair when yours - the roads you do control - continue to crumble at an alarming rate?

What's next? An op-ed on how to stop crime?

Any increase in the gas tax is pointless because the legislature keeps raiding the transportation trust fund to fill budget gaps. Until this practice is stopped, the fund will just go broke again in a few years when the raiding continues.

http://politickernj.com/2016/05/nj-mu ... gas-tax-to-replenish-ttf/

15-20 cent per gallon rise, and that's before the oil companies factor in passing along their added tax burden. And not a single word on cost containment, as NJ pays 8X the national average and 2X the closest state in highway repair costs.