Governor Christie makes push for gas tax hike, sales tax cut

TRENTON, New Jersey -- New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is making a big push for a plan that would raise the price of gas in the Garden State.

He held a news conference on Wednesday in which he laid out the deal that would increase the gas tax and cut the sales tax.

It could go into the effect on Friday, increasing the price of gas by 23 cents per gallon, just as the holiday weekend gets underway.

Christie says it's the right thing to do for the state's roads and bridges.

Christie spokes Wednesday after the Democrat-led Assembly passed legislation raising the gas tax to 37.5 cents a gallon from 14.5 cents and cutting the sales tax from 7 percent to 6 percent.

Christie called it fair tax representation.

"People need relief, they're saying it all the time. So if we're going to ask them to pay more at the pump to improve roads and bridges and mass transit, then we need to give them relief through another venue. I believe the sales tax is the best way to do that, because that's a tax that ever New Jerseyan pays," he said.

It doesn't appear the plan will be an easy battle. Many are opposed to it and held a rally to speak out against the deal, saying cutting the sales tax would eliminate over 1-billion dollars from state state funding.

"We'll have different interpretations of what the word fairness mean. To me, this is an unfair plan," said Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg.

"It doesn't work. It doesn't work if you think funding education is important, it doesn't work if you think pension obligation is important," said Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisnewski.

The state's transportation trust fund runs out of borrowing authority on July 1.