Two weeks ago, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was patting himself on the back for the 20 tax cuts enacted since he took office for middle-class families and seniors.

“Once again: this is how you build a state that is stronger and fairer,” he said during his State of the State speech. “And more affordable.”

But, once again, New Jersey needs money and is looking to raise taxes, fees and transit fares, inviting criticism from Republicans and consternation from fellow Democrats. So with two years left in his second and final term, Murphy’s legacy could be bruised as he looks at plans to increase the cost of bus and train tickets, consumer goods and gasoline — which fall on New Jersey’s middle class residents he has spent years promising to prop up.

The tip of the spear came on Wednesday, when Murphy’s administration said it needs to hike fares by 15 percent for hundreds of thousands of New Jersey Transit riders, including some of the state’s most vulnerable residents and people who commute to New York City each day for work.

The fare increase is the first since Murphy took office in 2018, but it might be the first in a series of so-called revenue enhancers that will be needed to close a nearly $1 billion budget gap at the nation’s third-largest transit agency and fund other parts of state government as pandemic aid is exhausted.

The backlash to the fare increase was swift from fellow Democrats — including the president of the state Senate, the chair of Senate environment committee and one of the leading candidates to replace Murphy in Trenton — and from Republicans who are in the legislative minority.

Especially in the state Senate, lawmakers are not crazy about the fare increase.

Sen. Bob Smith, the chair of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, said the fare increases threaten to chase people out of trains........

© Politico