Corzine's Kinky Math

The Philadephia Inquirer reports:

Dodging calls to raise the gasoline tax, Gov. Corzine yesterday announced a five-year plan to borrow more money and refinance existing debt to bail out the state's near-bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund.

The former Wall Street executive said his strategy, which he likened to stretching a home mortgage over 30 years instead of 20, was the "fiscally responsible" choice for a state government that may have to raise other taxes to fix a $4.5 billion budget shortfall.

"With the budget coming up, we have to make decisions about what we can afford," Corzine said. "This plan will benefit not just current New Jersey residents, but future residents 50 to 75 years from now."

Many lawmakers, union leaders, and regional transportation groups had urged Corzine to raise New Jersey's 14.5-cent gas tax - one of the lowest in the nation, and about 17 cents lower than Pennsylvania's - to replenish the fund that pays for the state's roads and rail lines. The trust fund is scheduled to run out of money July 1, and the federal government had threatened to confiscate more than $1 billion in transportation matching funds if the state did not find alternate funding soon.

That's the amazing thing about modern democracy, todays leaders don't have to face the future voters with the debt they are giving them.