U.S. Water News Online
TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jerseyans won't be paying a new water tax if key senators get their way.
Senators from both parties expressed opposition to Gov. Jon S. Corzine's plan to require public water consumers to pay a new tax. The levy would cost the average New Jersey household $4 per year and help the 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 during a 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 1,000 gallons of water -- to raise $12 million per year to pay for water infrastructure improvements. Corzine wants to improve the state's ability to deliver water during droughts, noting the state has seen five droughts in 13 years but done little to improve water supply.
Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson said the cost would be worthwhile.
"There's no doubt in my mind that we need to invest in that infrastructure," Jackson said.
But Sens. Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, expressed concern that money raised by the tax wouldn't be legally designated for water work. Bucco questioned taxing a "commodity that's essential 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 year for water work somewhere amid $30 billion in annual spending.
"You're not getting enough money back for the grief you're going to get," Sen. William Gormley, R-Atlantic, told Jackson.
But Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, D-Union, a member of the Assembly budget panel and chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, said the tax will average just 30 cents per month and is needed.
"The financial and environmental cost will only increase if action is ignored or even deferred," Cryan said. "Water may be an element of nature, but maintaining adequate supplies of clean water into the future is not totally free."
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