Recently there have been signs that Republican opposition to tax rises in New Jersey government has been cracking.
Since Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came to office in 2010, he has repeatedly vetoed Democratic passed tax raises.
An important example of the cracking came Oct. 17. On that day New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox said of the Transportation Trust Fund, "Crisis is opportunity," according to njspotlight.com. "We are broke. We can let the infrastructure fall apart and become worse. Or we can put the 'D' and 'R' aside and pass a revenue enhancer."
Christie nominated Fox to be commissioner Sept. 18.
A wide array of observers have said that New Jersey has many transportation capital projects in need of funding. They say a prominent need is for one or two additional train tunnels under the Hudson River to New York City.
After New Jersey started construction in 2009 of two such train tunnels, Christie cancelled the $8.7 billion project in 2010.
The New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority sells bonds to support the fund's capital projects. These bonds are rated A-minus by Fitch and Standard & Poor's and A2 by Moody's Investors Service.
