Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina and the township council are calling for the repeal of the most recent increases in tolls on the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike and against the new increase to the New Jersey gasoline tax.
In order to fund additional projects and maintenance, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority has increased tolls on both major highways as of March 1st, but officials statewide have criticized the authority’s spending and accountability in recent years.
This represents the third time in four years the state has increased tolls, which are used by many Jackson residents to get to and from work and school on a daily basis. Jackson is a bedroom community where a large percentage of residents commute to work and school and Mayor Michael Reina said this additional toll hike comes at a time when many are being financially squeezed by inflation and rising costs.
“Our food prices are skyrocketing, gas prices are high, and now the state is increasing our taxes and tolls, where we’re already among the top in the nation in how much we pay for both,” Reina said. “This represents a nearly 6% increase in annual costs for our residents to get to and from work when so many are working extremely hard just to make ends meet.”
Council President Jennifer Kuhn noted that residents of Ocean County and Jackson are paying a disproportionate amount of New Jersey’s gasoline tax and toll revenue due to long commutes by residents each day, but the residents are not seeing the benefits of the tax.
“Very rarely does the state re-invest those funds into Ocean County,” Kuhn said. “We’ve made so many requests in the county to improve state roads that are supposed to be funded by tolls and taxes, but those pleas fall on deaf ears in Trenton. While it may not affect Jackson directly, these are roads used daily by so many of our residents.”
“We are paying more to fund projects in other parts of the state,” said Councilman Mordechai Burnstein. “We have a large senior population in Jackson and many who relocated here from up north and commute back and forth often to visit family. Every penny counts for such a large number of our residents.”
Reina also noted that hidden in the bill to increase the gasoline tax is a tax on electric cars.
“The state’s tax on these cars after pushing of electric vehicles means they didn’t think this whole thing through,” Reina said. “As they force us to get rid of our gasoline powered cars, it means they will be further increasing the gas tax in the future on those who refuse to switch over to costly and unreliable vehicles for such long commutes. Now they are taxing the people who adopted their flawed green energy agenda, but we’re all going to end up paying dearly for it.”