file photo by Boyd Loving
SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY ADRIAN MOORE
THE RECORD
THE New Jersey Legislature is working hard to figure out how to take more money from you, ostensibly for transportation. Both parties look willing to stick it to taxpayers once again with a gas tax hike of as much as 25 cents per gallon.
That tax hike will hit you directly in the wallet every time you fill up your tank — even if gas prices go down. And it will hit you again in the prices of everything you buy, since companies providing goods and services require transportation and pay fuel taxes as well.
State leaders keep talking about how New Jersey has a transportation funding crisis and the only way, they claim, to fix the roads is to raise taxes. That doesn’t pass the laugh test, though, let alone stand up to any real analysis.
State transportation spending is not falling, and lack of money is not the crisis. According to data that all states report to the federal government, transportation spending in New Jersey on state highways nearly doubled from 2007-2012. New Jersey spends more than $2 million per mile of state roads — more than 12 times the national average.
The real crisis is how transportation money is used. New Jersey spends nine times the national average per mile to build roads and bridges, almost six times the national average per mile to maintain its state highways, and four times the national average per mile on office and administration costs.
Yep, that’s money out of our pockets to fund a grossly inept and corrupt NJ Transportation Trust Fund, which is $17 billion in debt despite the second highest combined gasoline taxes + toll charges of any state after NY. They say gasoline taxes are low, but combine them with commuter charges for tolls and we’re #2 after NY in terms of money out of our pocket as consumers and rate payers. We already pay the highest state income + local property taxes combined of any state in the country. The problem is the cost for the union labor that builds and repairs the state roads and bridges. They charge 3X as much as the next highest state, Massachusetts. That’s the real issue, but the Democratic leadership in Trenton want taxpayers to dig deeper without even asking why we spend so much relative to other states. They just want to keep the good times going for their union buddies in the ironworkers union (Sweeney), Sanzari Construction (Sarlo), and all of the other “made men” and assorted thugs involved in the state road racket. This is the new organized crime, sanctioned by the state budget, but clearly stealing money from the majority to fund those who need their “taste”. The work should be tendered to private, non-union contractors who will do a better job for 1/3 of the price, saving all NJ residents money when they fill up their tanks.
Oh, I thought this was a photo of South Broad street by the new parking garage.