New Jersey voters face important fiscal housekeeping on Tuesday's ballot. They'll be asked to constitutionally dedicate existing tax revenue to property tax relief, park repair, and transportation improvement.
But what seems to be a "no-brainer" is a trick question.
Question 1 asks voters to dedicate a half-penny of last summer's 1-cent sales tax increase to property-tax relief. Who isn't for lower property taxes? New Jersey's rates are the highest in the nation. That's why the Legislature has been toiling in a special session since July to devise solutions.
This ballot question, however, offers no concrete ideas or guarantees of how money will be spent. It's simply a feel-good effort that could, in fact, hamstring government later on, when it needs the flexibility to spend money where it's most needed. Voters should say NO.
Question 2 seeks approval to transfer about $15 million a year for the next decade from an existing environmental fund and use the cash to repair crumbling state parks.
The parks have a $250 million maintenance backlog, which the cash-strapped Legislature has been unsuccessful in addressing for several years. Voters should agree to rededicate a portion of the 4 percent corporate business tax, which was originally collected to remove underground storage tanks polluting the water. That job is finished.
Last year, voters wisely dedicated part of this environmental fund toward retrofitting diesel buses and trucks to cleanse New Jersey's air. When that job is finished in 2016, funds available for parks would double. Continuing to rejigger this modest tax for environmental purposes makes sense. Vote YES.
Question 3, likewise, deserves a YES vote. It asks voters to dedicate all 10.5 cents per gallon of the state gasoline tax to transportation uses. Now, only 9 cents is used to repair aging roads, rails and bridges or to build new ones. The rest, nearly $80 million a year, can be diverted to the general budget. The state perpetually falls short in funding vital transportation needs. Dedicating the full gas tax may discourage raiding the transportation fund for other uses.
