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Gov. Chris Christie is touting Grover Norquist's support of 23-cent-per-gallon gas tax hike
Associated Press ^ | 6/29/16 | BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI

Posted on 06/29/2016 8:55:02 PM PDT by panhandle67

TRENTON, New Jersey — Republican Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday touted an anti-tax crusader's endorsement of a proposed 23-cent- per-gallon gasoline tax hike along with a sales tax cut, sweeping aside objections raised by Democratic leaders in the state Senate and voicing confidence that the measure would be passed in that chamber.

Christie all but dared lawmakers not to act on his plan during a statehouse news conference, a day after the Assembly passed the plan to pay for a $2 billion a year transportation trust fund for eight years. The fund runs out of borrowing authority Friday, and Christie's last-minute proposal resulted in the Democrat-led Assembly scrapping a vote on their own plan.

Christie said lawmakers have been complaining for months that he wasn't engaged enough on the issue. And now that he is, they don't like his proposal, he said. He called on them to approve his plan during Thursday's session.

The increase would send New Jersey's current gas tax of 14.5 cents per gallon from second-lowest in the country behind Alaska to roughly equal that of Connecticut, which has the sixth-highest at 37.51 cents, according to the Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy research organization

Christie, who ran a failed presidential campaign and now supports Donald Trump, signed a pledge not to raise taxes sponsored by Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform group. The organization endorsed Christie's proposal Wednesday in a statement released just as Christie's news conference began.

Christie said the group backed the Assembly bill "saying that it represented tax fairness as well."

(Excerpt) Read more at greenfieldreporter.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Alaska; US: Connecticut; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: alaska; chrischristie; connecticut; energy; grovernorquist; jennifergranholm; methane; newark; newjersey; norquist; opec; petroleum; philmurphy; pledge; randpaul; republicans; ronpaul; taxfoundation; taxreform; trenton
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He said the sales tax cut from 7 percent to 6 percent phased in over 2017 and 2018 will cost about $1.3 billion, while the gas tax hike is estimated to bring in roughly the same amount. The result will be a net neutral tax on residents, he said. Legislative estimates, however, suggest the state could lose up to nearly $2 billion a year.

The state Senate is expected take up the issue Thursday. But Democratic State Senate President Steve Sweeny said he was in the dark about it, and other senators — including some Republicans — are speaking out against the plan.

1 posted on 06/29/2016 8:55:03 PM PDT by panhandle67
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To: panhandle67

That was a big reason why I visited my sisters in Jersey!

I’ll bill them.


2 posted on 06/29/2016 8:58:12 PM PDT by dp0622 (The only thing an upper crust conservative hates more than a liberal is a middle class conservative)
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To: panhandle67

Norquist needs to be deported to Saudi Arabia.


3 posted on 06/29/2016 9:01:47 PM PDT by Paladin2 (auto spelchk? BWAhaha2haaa.....I aint't likely fixin' nuttin'. Blame it on the Bossa Nova...)
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To: panhandle67

I’m skeptical of a flip flop of taxes such as this.

So, they will raise the gas tax in exchange for a cut in the sales tax.

The problem is, will they quietly raise the sales tax back up to where it was before, somewhere down the road? Then the total tax burden will indeed be greater than it is now. And their touting this as “revenue neutral” or “tax neutral” will be a falsehood.


4 posted on 06/29/2016 9:18:35 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: panhandle67

I think Christie just played the Democrats on this one, give them a tax hike the want with a tax decrease they don’t want.

That way they veto it and he can point to them as being the problem and uncooperative

Christie knew this was a goner before he supported it. He basically “Obama’d” the New Jersey Democrats on this. He is forcing the Rats to veto their own bill, genius.


5 posted on 06/29/2016 9:19:27 PM PDT by arl295
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To: panhandle67

Just what the government needs - more tax money to p*ss down the toilet.


6 posted on 06/29/2016 9:58:35 PM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: panhandle67

“He said the sales tax cut from 7 percent to 6 percent phased in over 2017 and 2018 will cost about $1.3 billion, while the gas tax hike is estimated to bring in roughly the same amount. The result will be a net neutral tax on residents, he said. Legislative estimates, however, suggest the state could lose up to nearly $2 billion a year.”

From the article it’s unclear if the sales tax cut applies only to gasoline or all taxable sales. If it does, what they are doing is shifting the tax burden to a narrower base of just motorists. the problem we have here in California is that our gas is taxed by the gallon and then a sales tax is added to all of it, and worse yet, the money, which is supposed to go for vehicular infrastucture, is purloined for bike paths, public transit and even welfare. I just can’t wait for the whole shebang to crash! I hope I live to see it!


7 posted on 06/29/2016 10:32:41 PM PDT by vette6387
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To: panhandle67

They (Republicans) raised the gas tax 28 cents a gallon over a five year period back at the end of 2013 here in Pennsylvania.

Christie is cut from the same RINO cloth and I guess his endorsement of Trump was designed to cover this latest act of business as usual tax and spend politics from him.

Cutting the sales tax and raising the gas tax is a shell game, bait and switch trick against the taxpayers of NJ.


8 posted on 06/29/2016 10:39:03 PM PDT by Nextrush (FREEDOM IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS, REMEMBER PASTOR NIEMOLLER)
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To: panhandle67

I’m considering buying a new car, without a “trade in”< price $40,000, sales tax $2500. I thought about buying in a low or no sales tax state but quickly found out that that won’t work, unless I move to the state where I bought it.

Also thought about buying it with my 01.5% cash back credit card, thereby getting $600 back from my credit card company and paying the credit card debt within one month.

Dealer said, no way Jose.


9 posted on 06/29/2016 10:57:25 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Crooked Hillary's going down and I aint talkin about, on Huma.)
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To: panhandle67

Send norquist to arabiA and keep Christie the hell off the ticket! Jersey state politics needs a genuine cleanup. And much lower taxes! The political hacks are destroying the state and economy


10 posted on 06/29/2016 11:29:13 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians are not born. They're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero)
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To: faithhopecharity
...and keep Christie the hell off the ticket!

Exactly right.

11 posted on 06/29/2016 11:31:31 PM PDT by Mr Apple ( HILLARY CLINTON >>> COOKIES, CANDIES, CAKE, DESSERTS & CASHEWS....the WALRUS LOOK)
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To: Dilbert San Diego
The difference in New Jersey is that the fuel tax is dedicated to the state's transportation trust fund, while the sales tax is general revenue.

Most politicians in this state -- Democrat and Republican alike -- are scratching their heads, trying to figure this one out. They are having a hard time determining the political implications for their own careers.

12 posted on 06/30/2016 2:05:32 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Sometimes I feel like I've been tied to the whipping post.")
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To: vette6387

Then why do it. What is the tax on gas now 50%?


13 posted on 06/30/2016 2:41:44 AM PDT by nikos1121 (A Trump presidency will be like The Golden Age of Pericles in Greece)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

I prefer the status quo because the sales tax is the only way we get our gibsmedats to contribute anything at all.

Christie has been good on taxes, so he is still popular with the “makers”; his primary opposition is from the welfare and workfare (government worker) folks. If you saw his recent proposal (to give equal amounts per student to school districts), it really highlights how much is wasted in urban districts to produce illiterate high school grads. It may get nowhere, but it really highlights the problem...


14 posted on 06/30/2016 3:35:23 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: arl295

Finally, a sane point vs all the knee-jerks....


15 posted on 06/30/2016 3:58:15 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: Dilbert San Diego
I am for shifting the burden from penalizing people working in the state to penalizing people who don't pay income tax in the state. Welfare recipients and illegal income do not pay income taxes, but do very, very often, pay for gas, where this tax pulls a little something out of them. Likewise, it catches direct benefit from visitors driving through. Finally, to curb its effects, you drive a higher MPG vehicle, optimize your shopping trips, or take public transportation. With an income tax, to curb its effect, you earn illegal monies (steal, etc.) or work less.

In short, although it still hits residents, this helps collect tax for New Jersey from people who do not currently directly pay it. It is definitely a net benefit for income-producing residents.

16 posted on 06/30/2016 7:17:44 AM PDT by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticide, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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To: kearnyirish2

Crud, I misread that it was a sales tax shift rather than a shift from income tax to sales tax.

My post immediately above is amended to now say I oppose this approach.


17 posted on 06/30/2016 7:20:15 AM PDT by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticide, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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To: nikos1121

You might find this interesting:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-adv-transportation-funding-20160203-story.html


18 posted on 06/30/2016 8:21:34 AM PDT by vette6387
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To: panhandle67
If Christie can get the state constitution changed to limit gax tax money to road maintenance, it will sweeten the sting a bit. I wish that he hadn't included mass transit in the things paid for by the gas tax, that's just robbing Peter to pay Paul again.

Every governor in the last 30 years has used the gas tax money as a slush fund, so this is some improvement. Unfortunately, you can't know if this is just the initial bid and something worse is expected.

It's Jersey, I expect worse to come.

19 posted on 06/30/2016 8:26:22 AM PDT by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
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To: kearnyirish2

Gas taxes are a use tax and you are correct, it taxes those people who don’t work and drive around all day doing nothing. When you raise taxes on those who have income and property (income taxes and property taxes), you put the tax burden on an a select group of the population.

I can find ways to be more efficient in how and when I drive if gas taxes cause the price of gas to get to a point where I say enough. In other words, I have my own price elasticity where I say enough.


20 posted on 06/30/2016 8:35:13 AM PDT by CTrent1564
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