NJ MOTOR TRUCK ASSOCIATION AND NJ FUEL MERCHANTS RESPOND TO MURPHY BUDGET TRANSPORTATION FUNDING: “LOW AND MIDDLE-INCOME DRIVERS AND SMALL BUSINESSES SHOULDN’T PAY MORE WHILE WEALTHIER EV OWNERS PAY NOTHING”

TRENTON — In response to Governor Murphy proposing the FY 2025 Budget today, Eric DeGesero, lobbyist for the NJ Motor Truck Association and Fuel Merchants Association of NJ released the following statement:

“In the next few months, the Governor and Legislature will make critical decisions regarding transportation that will have a dramatic economic impact on NJ businesses, consumers, and families as it relates to the Transportation Trust Fund and New Jersey Transit.

First, if the Murphy Administration is committed to living up to their own words of ‘stronger and fairer’, they need to ensure they don’t disproportionately hurt low and middle-income families and small businesses by raising the gas tax to reauthorize the TTF and not allow wealthier EV owners to continue to pay nothing to fund our roads and bridges.

In fact, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, EVs can be as much as 33% heavier than their gas counterparts. Therefore, EVs place a disproportionate amount of wear and tear on our roads and bridges.  Before asking low and middle-income drivers to pay more, it’s time EV owners contribute to the roads on which they drive.

We appreciate a recent proposal from seven South Jersey lawmakers, including Senators Burzichelli and Moriarty and Assemblywoman Katz, to implement an annual registration fee on electric cars to create recurring revenues for the state’s Transportation Trust Fund. In fact, if all registered EVs paid $300 per year, this would generate an additional $28.5 million annually, as of June 30, 2023.*

The TTF raises $2 billion annually from truckers and motorists for infrastructure projects. However, $760 million, or 38% of the total, goes to NJ Transit for capital expenditures.  And this isn’t all that truckers and motorists contribute to NJ Transit.

In FY 2024 $440 million in NJ Turnpike Authority funds went to subsidize NJ Transit’s operations.  Those tolls are likely to increase 3% and published reports suggest that increase may be annual. With a big, and increasing, funding shortfall, some may suggest an increased contribution from truckers and motorists to fund NJ Transit. However, they already pay far beyond their fair share. Any TTF reauthorization cannot increase the amount of fuel taxes or toll revenue that is currently diverted to fund NJ Transit.

Finally, everything we buy gets to the store or our front door via a truck, sometimes multiple trucks. And at some point the things we buy wind up in a warehouse. The Governor is proposing a $1 fee on trucks that use warehouses. This one more fee that will be passed on to consumers. Why not a $1 fee on containers offloading at the port? How about a $1 check-out fee at the grocery store? In his speech the governor discussed the cost of things like groceries. Higher tolls and higher fees are passed on to consumers and result in higher costs, like for groceries.

The NJ Motor Truck Association and Fuel Merchants Association of NJ look forward to constructively engaging with the state’s leaders and other stakeholders to ensure that the policies enacted are fair and equitable for all.”

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* According to the Federal Highway Administration in 2022 the average NJ driver drove 12,263  miles per year. The average vehicle in 2021 got 21.55 miles per gallon (US Department of Transportation).  12,263 miles/21.55 mpg = 569 gallons. NJ Petroleum Gross Receipts & Motor Fuels Tax = 42.3 cents/gallon. 569 gallons x $0.423/gallon = $240.69. (rounded up to nearest $100) 95,097 EVs x $300/yr. = $28,529,100.