Driving will cost more in NJ in January and you should be livid

Take one guess how the following sentence ends.

“After a thorough review of fuel consumption statistics and consultation with the Legislative Budget and Finance Officer, the Department of the Treasury announced today _______”

If you guessed “…the state government will not burden an already over-taxed public by raising taxes” you are dead wrong.

NJ gas tax is rising again on Jan. 1

The gas tax is going up come January 1. It’s going to jump by 4.2 cents per gallon. When the gas tax deal was struck during the Christie administration a major piece of the puzzle was that the Transportation Trust Fund by law would have to have X amount of dollars in it every year, slowly increasing until 2029 to $2.366 billion.

“Due to the new statutory target, and because actual consumption has trended below last fiscal year’s levels, our analysis of the new formula dictates a 4.2 cent increase this coming January,” said State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio. “We emphasize that this dedicated funding stream continues to provide billions of dollars across the State to support our critical transportation infrastructure needs.”

SEE ALSO: Report shows NJ roads among worst in nation

Why taxpayers should be furious about the gas tax

You know why you should be angry? Lots of reasons, but I’ll just leave it at two.

First, this state government raided the Transportation Trust Fund in the past. It was heinous and, in my opinion, malfeasance. They borrowed from Peter to pay for Paul so to speak, except really it was more like robbing Peter because they never had any task intention of paying it back.

The vote on this tax hike scheme implemented in 2016 brought our state from one of the lowest gas taxes in the nation to now the eighth highest.

Nice going, guys.

SEE ALSO: Two of the nation's deadliest roads are in NJ

New Jersey’s costly prevailing wage laws make roads even pricier

The other reason you should be furious is New Jersey refuses to do anything about its absurd prevailing wage laws. It was union job protectionism and helped our roads become the must expensive to maintain. In the nation, we rank dead last in highway performance and cost-effectiveness. 50th place. The pits. We spend over $1 million per mile to maintain a road.

How are we spending $1.1 million per mile while New York, Florida, and Massachusetts are each spending only $200,000? They went ahead and charged you to fund the Transportation Trust Fund that they raided. Then they still did nothing to address the problem of overpaying for roads.

But hey, Happy New Year, right?

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