(Based on: 15,000 mi./yr., 25 mpg, 10.5¢/gal. NJ gas tax, 18.4¢ Federal gas tax, and just two 35¢ tolls each way to work, 48 wks./yr.)

The Highway Authority proudly boasts that the Parkway receives no taxes. This explains how roads like Rt. 80 can stay toll-free while the Parkway costs so much - because Rt. 80 gets both commuter's taxes, and the Parkway wastes a big chunk of their money just collecting it.

Of course, adding tolls to Rt. 80 and lowering the gas tax would be equally as fair, but I'll leave that for the public to decide. The question is not "Should we pay for the Parkway with tolls", but "Should we pay for roads with tolls"? And if you want to pay a lot more for your roads and get hassled in the process, vote for tolls.

Although CAT has developed a plan which could eliminate tolls without a gas tax hike (see CAT Plan), we have always contended that the money needed to run the Parkway ($130 million*) could be obtained by a 3¢ gas tax hike, (*$200 million toll revenue minus the $70 million wasted from collecting it).

Toll supporters try to frighten people by saying our taxes would skyrocket if we'd remove the tolls. But this is hardly the case. How much would a 3¢ gas tax hike add to that typical commuter who pays $63 state and $110 federal gas taxes? Only $18 per year (see chart below). That's a far cry from $200 - $330 scare tactics used by some toll supporters (see "Parkway tolls: A taxing question", by Fran Wood).

If you drive an economy car, removing Parkway tolls might only cost you $10 per year, and if you use the Parkway even just occasionally, you'd be saving money in no time. If you drive over 20,000 miles per year and get less than 15 mpg, well, maybe you should pay more for pollution reduction programs like toll removal. And if $50 matters that much, then maybe you should trade in your gas guzzler for a more fuel efficient vehicle that costs $thousands less to buy and $hundreds less per year to operate. Finally, for those who need to drive a lot for business, yes, you'd pay more, but think of what you'd save in tolls!

The Parkway is just a road - only 173 miles out of the 34,000 miles of roads in NJ, and paying for one more road (especially one that has been built and paid for) wouldn't add a lot to our tax bill. But sometimes our message is lost to their propaganda. Case in point (from email received over web site):

"All roads should be toll roads. Why should I pay for roads I don't drive on? If you took the Federal and State taxes off of gasoline, it would be damn near free" - Anonymous emailer.

Actually, gas wouldn't be free, but it would be about 30¢ a gallon less. I wish Mr. Anonymous used his real email address because I would have liked to ask:

Question: Would you really prefer all your roads have tolls even if gas were free?

I get email from people paying $300, $400, $500 and more in tolls each year (...and imaging how much they'd pay if more roads had tolls). That's more than I pay for gas! Once I had to take the Parkway from Union to Saddle Brook (for a CAT meeting). 20 miles, 3 tolls. 60¢ for gas, $1.05 for tolls (my car gets 35 mpg). If I had to make that 20 mile commute daily, it would cost me over $500 a year for tolls, but only $300 a year in gas (including tax). Good thing my 24 mile commute is on Rt. 24, 287, and 10.

So I would like to ask Mr. Anonymous to look up how much gas tax he is currently paying and compare it to how much he would have to pay from adding just a couple of 35¢ tolls each way to work:

One of the most common comments we get from people signing the petition is "...and no gas tax either". C.A.T. sympathizes with them, and has since developed a financial plan that would justify the elimination of tolls without any tax increases <click here to read the CAT plan>.

However, how should we pay for our roads? They must be funded in some way, and what is more fair than with the gas tax? It targets exactly the right people - those who use the roads. A "toll tax" does too, however tolls waste nearly half of what they take in on nothing more than collection costs. Plus the gas tax doesn't create congestion, pollution, and aggravation like the toll tax does. Ask yourself, "would I want to pay for all my roads by tolls, or by the gas tax"? If you say tolls, read on to find out how much MORE you'd have to pay for the roads you use.

We are NOT asking for special treatment for toll road users, we are simply asking to pay for these roads the same cleaner, safer, more efficient way as all the other roads in NJ. Who should pay for the roads? The people who use them, of course. And since people who use the roads use gas, just balance what the roads cost with the gas tax and no one can complain. Don't think of it as money going to subsidize someone else's road, think of it as simply paying for the road that's directly beneath your car. What could be fairer than that? Drive a mile, pay for a mile. If you can't sign a petition to support that, then may tolls be placed on every road you need.

Personally, I think people oppose any tax increase because we don't trust politicians to spend it wisely. But what I don't understand is why people oppose a 3¢ gas tax hike, yet love $488 million E-ZPass. I guess we're so accustomed to seeing our tax dollars disappear with no benefits that $488 million for 5 mph E-ZPass seems worth it.

Do you know how much $488 million is? $50 for every man, woman and child in NJ. $200 for a family of 4. And what it comes out to divided only by actual E-ZPass users must be even more outrageous. That's what E-ZPass costs. Money not for road construction or maintenance, but only for a better way of taking our money. ...5 mph better.

Do you know how much 3¢ is? I drive about 12,000 miles per year in NJ, my car gets 35 mpg, so I use about 350 gallons of gas. So an extra 3¢ will cost me about $10.50 per year. But most people don't own economy cars, so double that if you own an SUV - $21 (...and just think of all the money well get from out of state SUV drivers who don't use the toll roads!).

Why is it so EZ to accept the cost of E-ZPass, yet so hard to swallow a 3¢ gas tax increase? ...Especially when removing the tolls would help congestion and pollution MUCH more. It seems that every other car sold now-a-days is an SUV. Why do people gladly shell out an extra $10,000 for a vehicle that spews twice the pollution, but aren't willing to spend an extra $21 per year on something that would reduce pollution? If that 3¢ matters to you that much, trade your SUV for an economy car and cut your taxes in half. Carpool and cut your taxes in half again. Or take mass transit. Isn't all this worth a lousy 3¢?

But we shouldn't ask what it would cost to remove tolls, but how much it would save. We would save millions per year in collection costs (...see the toll costs list). Plus another half a billion by not needing E-ZPass. Then there's the reduced pollution, congestion, wear and tear on our cars, tollbooth fender-benders and the insurance to pay for them, and probably most importantly, aggravation (...which would save even more on all those "drive friendly" signs NJ just put up). Removing the tolls would be the best money we ever SAVED.

Finally, don't for a minute think that the gas tax won't be raised in the near future anyway. But why not make the first 3¢ of any future gas tax hike go to removal of tolls from the Parkway? Because if we don't, your money really will disappear with no visible benefits.