BY HERB JACKSON
North Jersey roads and transit systems would get more money in President Obama’s proposed 2013 budget, but one analyst said he was using a phony funding source, and the House and Senate can’t agree on much smaller programs.
The budget also includes a $1 million down payment, on top of $250,000 announced last week, for the Army Corps of Engineers to study long-term solutions to chronic Passaic River flooding.
While $1 million is almost insignificant in a $3.8 trillion budget, its inclusion signals Washington’s commitment to a $15 million multi-year study after Obama visited Paterson and Wayne last year to see the massive damage caused by back-to-back storms.
“I am very grateful that President Obama did not forget what he saw,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson.
The budget calls tax rates to go up as scheduled next year for couples making more than $250,000, who tend to be more numerous in New Jersey than other states. Those same taxpayers would also see dividends treated the same as regular income in 2013, while deductions for property taxes, charitable contributions and other items would be capped at a maximum value of 28 percent.
“Residents of New Jersey are already overtaxed,” said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding.
“The president has proposed another trillion-dollar-plus in deficits, higher taxes and a goody bag of spending increases for pet projects benefiting his political cronies,” aid Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage.
But Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, said the budget provided for a fairer tax system through shared sacrifice and "will keep our economy on track to a full recovery, without balancing the budget on the backs of seniors and the middle class." Rothman is facing Pascrell in a primary for the 9th District Democratic nomination.
Obama’s plan would spend $476 billion over five years, and supplement the gas tax revenue with funds being saved by ending the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Taxpayers for Common Sense vice president Steve Ellis called the savings “fictitious” because no one ever expected the wars to continue indefinitely. But Stan Collender, a former aide to the House and Senate budget committees, said continued war spending had been included in future deficit projections.
The House is considering a Republican-crafted bill that would spend $260 billion over five years and relies on increased oil and gas exploration, including offshore drilling, to raise revenue. The Senate is weighing a bipartisan bill that would spend $109 billion over two years with funding from a variety of areas, some of which raise money over 10 years and spend it in two.
North Jersey could see more transportation funding under proposed Obama budget (North Jersey News)
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