TRENTON, New Jersey — State Assembly Republican Conference Leader Christopher DePhillips wants legislative leaders to rule out tax increases as Democrats discuss hiking the sales tax to fund NJ Transit during the final weeks of state budget negotiations.
Instead, DePhillips wants to do a top-to-bottom review of NJ Transit to identify waste and cost-saving measures.
“The Democrats have quite literally gone off the rails,” DePhillips, R-Bergen, said. “My message to Democrats working the budget behind the scenes is simple: Leave state taxpayers alone, leave commuters alone, leave businesses alone and let’s take a look at cutting significant costs at NJ Transit.”
Gov. Phil Murphy is proposing a new 2.5% corporate surcharge on businesses earning over $10 million to address NJ Transit’s budget deficit. The Senate and Assembly budget chairs have signaled they are considering an increase in the state sales tax to 7% in its place. The tax increases are on top of NJ Transit’s 15% fare hike that takes effect in July.
“Bailing out NJ Transit should not be on the backs of burdened residents or businesses. Instead of looking internally at the agency and asking the hard questions, Democrats want to beat up taxpayers,” DePhillips said.
Lawmakers are considering ways to create a dedicated funding stream for the agency that is facing a $119 million shortfall next fiscal year. To sustain operations, NJ Transit has relied on raiding its capital budget and the state’s clean energy funds.
“As a state-run agency, NJ Transit has historically been mismanaged and notoriously inefficient. A surgical dissection of NJ Transit’s budget is not only warranted, but a standard of legislative due diligence,” DePhillips said. “Creating a budget without a complete and up-to-date audit of NJ Transit is completely irresponsible and I fear state taxpayers will pay the price.”
