Chris from Trenton defends gas tax (and slams radio host)
TRENTON - Gov. Christie on Thursday shot back at a conservative New Jersey radio host critical of his new tax plan, accusing the host of deliberately misleading listeners to "try to make yourself famous" and boost ratings.
TRENTON - Gov. Christie on Thursday shot back at a conservative New Jersey radio host critical of his new tax plan, accusing the host of deliberately misleading listeners to "try to make yourself famous" and boost ratings.
The host, Bill Spadea of New Jersey 101.5's morning show, snapped back, "Governor, it's not any more about ratings for me than it is about a nice tax-cutting headline for you."
At issue is Christie's plan to raise the state's 14.5-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline to 37.5 cents as part of legislation to replenish New Jersey's fund for the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, and rail lines.
Under Christie's plan - which passed the Assembly early Tuesday - the sales tax would gradually decrease from 7 percent to 6 percent by the time he leaves office in January 2018. The governor also wants to boost an income-tax exemption for seniors.
The Senate signaled Thursday that it was not on board with the House legislation and was working on a plan that would phase out the estate tax. It did not vote on the House plan.
Democrats control both houses of the Legislature, but the tax debate has crossed party lines.
"I understand when you have a new show, and you're trying to get yourself some ratings, that this was a great avenue for you to pursue," Christie said, calling into the show. "Congratulations. . . . The fact is, on Monday night, I changed the entire narrative. It is now a huge sales-tax cut."
Spadea, who took over the morning show in December, objected throughout the interview that while the gas-tax hike could have hit motorists as soon as Friday, the sales-tax cut would not be fully implemented for 18 months.
"You're raising taxes tomorrow in exchange for an 18-month plan to lower taxes that may or may not impact the average family in New Jersey," Spadea said.
He also suggested the sales-tax cut would not make New Jersey much more competitive.
Christie said that while the typical driver would pay an additional $100 a year, the sales-tax cut would save the average family more than $400.
"The best you can come up with to counter that is either [the sales tax is] going to be increased when I leave, or people don't really buy things. Or they're going to some other state to buy things, which is completely absurd," the governor said.
Christie's eight-year, $16 billion transportation plan would use new gas-tax revenues and bonding. In November, voters would be asked to dedicate the new revenues to transportation needs.
Some lawmakers are concerned about the hole the sales-tax cut would leave in the budget - nearly $2 billion by fiscal 2022, according to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.
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