The legislature and the Corzine administration made the sales tax increase more palatable to the public by promising to utilize a portion of the proceeds to bring down the state's notoriously high property taxes. Now, with voter approval, both the legislature and the governor's office will move to accomplish that. The amount of money involved for this year is estimated to be in the $625-million range.
In the second question, voters approved by 59% to 41% a measure that will divert corporate business tax revenues currently reserved for clean water and storage tank programs to making repairs at public parks, historic sites and other public areas. That approval will mean at least $15 million a year for such use for the next decade, after which the amount of money would more than double.
Finally, by a similar 59% to 41% margin, voters approved a change in the use of the state's gas tax. Until now, nine cents of the state's 10.5-cent-per-gallon gas tax has been constitutionally dedicated to transportation uses. Going forward, the entire 10.5 cents will be used to fix highways, repair bridges and complete other improvements to the state's transportation infrastructure, including mass transit.
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