Another Tax?

Daily Record, May 2, 2006
SENATORS MOVE TO SINK CORZINE'S WATER TAX PLAN
By Tom Hester Jr., Associated Press WriterTRENTON, N.J. (AP) --
New Jerseyans won't be paying a new water tax ifkey senators get their way.Senators from both parties Monday expressed opposition to Gov. Jon S.Corzine's plan to require public water consumers to pay a new tax. Thelevy would cost the average New Jersey household $4 per year and helpthe state handle droughts, but senators were unconvinced."New Jerseyans are taxed enough," said Sen. Wayne Bryant, D-Camden,the Senate budget committee chairman.As senators debated proposed environmental protection spending duringa budget committee hearing, Bryant said the tax would tell taxpayers"that we're always going to find another way to squeeze you."Corzine, a Democrat, wants the proposed tax -- 4 cents per 1,000gallons of water -- to raise $12 million per year to pay for waterinfrastructure improvements. Corzine wants to improve the state'sability to deliver water during droughts, noting the state has seenfive droughts in 13 years but done little to improve water supply.Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson said the cost wouldbe worthwhile."There's no doubt in my mind that we need to invest in thatinfrastructure," Jackson said.But Sens. Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Anthony Bucco, R-Morris,expressed concern that money raised by the tax wouldn't be legallydesignated for water work. Bucco questioned taxing a "commodity that'sessential to life," and Sen. Sharpe James, D-Essex, said the tax,while small, would hit low-income families hard.Several senators suggested the state could find $12 million per yearfor water work somewhere amid $30 billion in annual spending."You're not getting enough money back for the grief you're going toget," Sen. William Gormley, R-Atlantic, told Jackson.But Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, D-Union, a member of the Assembly budgetpanel and chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, saidthe tax will average just 30 cents per month and is needed."The financial and environmental cost will only increase if action isignored or even deferred," Cryan said. "Water may be an element ofnature, but maintaining adequate supplies of clean water into thefuture is not totally free."
Copyright 2006 Daily Record.