
NJ Poll: Voters Tell Legislators To Keep Their Hands Off The Gas Tax
November 14, 2015 11:45 AM By David Madden
HAMDEN, CT (CBS) – With the general election now in the rear view mirror, New Jersey politicians are expected to take up a number of unpopular issues.
Tops on that list is a bid to increase the state’s gasoline tax. A new poll of Garden State voters suggests drivers want that levy left alone.
The Quinnipiac poll back in April found half of those surveyed might support an increase to help pay for road repair and such. That was the first time in eleven years the number got that high, according to pollster Mickey Carroll.
This latest poll, taken after the November Third general election, showed that support was short lived.
“People don’t like it 62 to 35,” Carroll told KYW Newsradio. “But legislators who have to decide what to do with a nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund are said to be going for it.”
What a boob
Why fix any roads or bridges at all?
You missed the point as usual 7:37; the issue is not fixing roads and bridges, the issue is why does it cost NJ taxpayers 3X more than the next highest cost state and 12X the national average to fix state roads? Just raising gasoline taxes solves nothing when the take, including tolls, is already the second highest after NY. It’s just throwing good money down a black hole, which is what Union toadies like Sarlo, Prieto and Sweeney want to do without asking any questions. Probably no surprise that you benefit from this ongoing state-sanctioned graft and corruption. The state road work should be bid out to private contractors who will do a better job than the overpaid Union thugs doing the theft, I mean work, now.
The transportation trust fund has $17 billion in debt. Until they get their spending under control not a single penny more should be raised through higher gasoline taxes. The dark lie to taxpayers here is that gasoline taxes are cheap – but when you add in tolls and commuter taxes, the cost to consumers to get around the state is right up there with NY state.
If it were genuinely a case of fixing roads and bridges, that would be great. The problem is that significant portions of the money that gets allotted for these projects gets siphoned off by all kinds of middle-men and other political port that gets inserted into the bills.
Who’s the boob now 6:36?
Declan, you mean Sweeney, Sarlo and Prieto benefit from pork inserted in to state sanctioned theft of taxpayers on state roads? Outsource the work to private contractors who will do better work for 1/3 of the price and save everyone the cost of higher gasoline taxes
The status quo is broken as evidenced by the fact that the state can’t even maintain its roads & bridges without running up a huge debt despite high tolls and commuter costs, in addition to gas taxes. Why do these roads cost taxpayers so much? Are they paving them with gold? What does raising gasoline taxes solve without first asking why do our test roads cost so much to repair? Let’s get the costs down before we add any additional funding. And can no one challenge the assorted gangsters running the road racket in NJ?
additional studies should be undertaken on why our roads cost so much to maintain before just throwing more money at the problem – that solves nothing longer-term except keeping the gravy train rolling