TRENTON -- In a remarkable turn of events, the Assembly early Tuesday morning passed a bill that would slice New Jersey's 7 percent sales tax to 6 percent by 2018 while eventually raising the gas tax by 23 cents per gallon to fund road projects.
Gov. Chris Christie came up with the idea and convinced Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto to back the sales tax rollback because it was something used by "9 million New Jersey residents."
The bill now heads to the state Senate. It replaces earlier measures that would have traded cutting the estate tax and increasing the Earned Income Tax for a higher gas tax.
Early Tuesday morning, Christie argued that the sales tax is "the people's money" and "they deserve to have it back."
Opponents of the measure say it would take too much from an already precarious state budget and force the state to make painful cuts in the future.
What do you think? Would you trade a gas tax increase for a sales tax cut?
Please vote in our informal, totally unscientific poll below.
Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.