The state Senate will take up the issue of the gas tax on Thursday. The deal reached between Gov. Chris Christie and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto in the middle of the night on Monday will hike your gas costs by a whopping 23 cents per gallon.

Bill-Spadea
Bill Spadea
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The plan is to hike the gas tax in exchange for an eventual 1-cent break on the sales tax — a break that the Democrats could easily undo as soon as Christie's out of office.

It seems opposition is gathering from all sides of the political aisle today with politicians on the left, state Sens. Ray Lesniak and Loretta Weinberg speaking out against the "irresponsible" side of the bill, which will leave a gaping hole in the state budget.

And on the right, state Sens. Mike Doherty and Jennifer Beck fighting hard against an unfair tax that will place an undue burden on commuters and working- and middle-class New Jerseyans.

The Assembly tax hike may have failed if not for Christie stepping in to save the bill by offering what he called a "Tax Fairness" compromise. The problem is, it's not "fair" at all. The $1.5 Billion in taxpayer savings may well be eaten up with a higher cost of goods resulting from the enormous gas tax hike.

Not only that, the savings do not kick in for 18 months, whereas the gas tax takes effect immediately  THIS FRIDAY.

It occurs to me that the politicians in Trenton had no expectation that you would take the time to call and express outrage. So keep calling!

I think the Senators that need to hear from you are Joe Kyrillos in Monmouth County and Senator Diane Allen in Burlington. Word is they may be prepared to vote to make you pay more.

Here's their info:

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos:
PHONE: (732) 671-3206
• Email Kyrillos at senkyrillos@njleg.org
Kyrillos on Facebook
Kyrillos on Twitter

State Sen. Dianne Allen

PHONE: (856) 314-8835
• Email Allen at senallen@njleg.org
Allen on Facebook
Allen on Twitter

And don't forget to call Senate President Steve Sweeney, and tell him to put a stop to this — any any gas tax increase until he can tell us where all our money is really goin

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