After A.C., lawmakers will turn to transportation funding

Gov. Chris Christie said he doesn’t know if the Legislature’s plan for replenishing the state’s Transportation Trust Fund will include a gas tax but suspects focus on the issue will pick up once lawmakers finish work on the Atlantic City bailout.

Christie, on “Ask the Governor,” said the Legislature is capable of doing only one big thing at a time. They’ll deal with the TTF, which the state uses to pay for road, bridge and rail work but is running out of cash, then turn to the budget, he predicted.

“We’re nowhere in that process. I understand they’re having lots of conversation quietly and privately in the Legislature,” Christie said, lowering his voice to a whisper when he said ‘quietly and privately.’ “But no one has come forward yet with a plan publicly, nor has anyone presented a plan to me.”

When host Eric Scott suggested it was possible a proposal wouldn’t be forthcoming from lawmakers, Christie said: “We’ll get something, don’t you worry.”

Christie said he’s not pushing a gas tax increase though didn’t rule out approving one when trying to assure a caller worried about a gas tax.

“I’ve been saying all along that we need tax fairness in this state. There’s no proposed gas tax increase yet because the folks in the Legislature haven’t put it forward,” Christie said. “They just keep whispering about it in the hallway. They whisper: ‘We’re going to raise the gas tax. Don’t tell anybody.’ Because they know you don’t want them to raise the gas tax.”

“So don’t worry about me. I will insist on tax fairness in this state, and if I don’t get it I won’t move forward. It’s just that simple.”

‘Tax fairness’ has become the catchphrase for the array of tax cuts lawmakers might pass to make an accompanying hike in the gas tax more politically palatable. They includes taxes on wealthy estates, retirement income and charitable contributions, as well as a boost in a tax credit for the working poor.

Christie also noted Sen. Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, will be “coming out with an even more refined alternate plan” that doesn’t include a higher gas tax. The proposal she has been outlining for months includes, among other elements, a merger of the state’s transportation authorities into the state Department of Transportation.

“Let’s take a look at what she has to say,” Christie said.

Beck will detail her Transportation Trust Fund plan at 8:30 a.m. in a visit to Bill Spadea’s morning program on New Jersey 101.5. She will then discuss it at a Statehouse news conference with the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity at 11 a.m.