73 percent of Democratic voters support Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s plan to use New Jersey’s corporate business tax to fund NJ Transit, a new poll says, one of several components of his statewide transportation plan unveiled in August.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“The pandemic and the federal money it brought eased the pressure on NJ Transit for a couple of years. But the problems haven’t gone away, and work from home means that they’re only going to get worse,” Dan Cassino, an FDU professor of government and politics and the director of the poll said in a statement.
“The fact that this is a restored tax, rather than a new one, helps with support. Democrats also tend to favor taxes on corporations, and giving the money to NJ Transit is just the icing on the cake.”
This year, a temporary corporate tax surcharge of 2.5 percent on profits over $1 million, which had been in place since 2020, was allowed to lapse.
The tax surcharge brought in more than half a billion dollars per year, and part of Fulop’s transportation plan, his first as a declared gubernatorial candidate, proposes to restore the surcharge, and earmark the revenue for NJ Transit.
This proposal has 54 percent approval overall among the 813 New Jerseyans surveyed, with independents giving 52 percent approval and Republicans just 29 percent.
Fulop’s push for dedicated funding for NJ Transit has also has support from advocacy groups such as the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and New Jersey Policy Perspective, which issued a report in late September calling for the CBT to be continued and dedicated to mass transit funding.
On the other hand, Fulop’s congestion pricing concept to combat what New York City has implemented, received 43 percent approval and 45 disapproval overall from respondents.
This aspect of his plan was most popular among Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, and Union Counties, with 48 percent approval and 39 percent disapproval among respondents.
It was least popular down the shore, with Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth, and Ocean Counties, with 37 percent approval and 50 percent disapproval among respondents – fairly expected among more heavily Republican populations.
That aspect of the plan initially drew some criticism from political adversaries in U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-5), Rob Menendez (D-8), and Mikie Sherrill (D-11), with Gottheimer and Sherrill considered likely Democratic gubernatorial opponents.
“While some were quick to criticize me when we released our proposals, we see today my plan is on the right side of the issues. Hopefully in the future we will see a more thoughtful discussion,” Fulop said today.
