well the state may finally have a dedicated source of funding to help New Jersey Transit dig out of its billion dooll shortfall that's if Democrats and business groups can get on board in a recent interview with David Cruz for reporters Roundtable Senate President Nick scutari revealed he's open to extending New Jersey's corporate business tax surcharge in order to fund New Jersey Transit which has been a policy goal of Transportation advocates for years but the governor has said a Deal's a deal when it comes to letting at sunset at the end of the year the future of the tax is once again becoming a political flash point and getting major pushback from business groups senior political correspondent David Cruz reports well I tell you one thing that I've talked about in terms of a funding source would be reinstitution of the corporate business tax that was suspended uh that's an energy that I mean that's a uh a funding source that would provide a billion dollars a year it came in the middle of a hastily arranged sidewalk interview in Atlantic City Senate President Nix gari suggesting that he could support reinstating the corporate business tax sech charge as a way to fund NJ Transit operations it was something he'd said before but with the search charge set to sunset at the end of the year Scar's comments sent a buzz through social media accounts of Transportation Advocates who saw an opening to revive the issue the businesses that are subject to this tax are not Mom and pop shops they are giant mega corporations such as Amazon and Exxon who all benefit from NJ transits Transportation Network meanwhile says Ambrose the agency which has no dedicated funding source is about to drown in red ink with service cuts and fair hikes likely the beauty of using the corporate business tax to fund NJ Transit is that these corporations benefits from being in New Jersey and from our massive transportation system but critics in business and in the legislature are pouring cold water on the idea for most of the same reasons that caused the governor to promise the temporary search charge with sunset the companies that are being targeted are what they call for profit institutions their job is to generate quality products that are purchased in the consumer Marketplace uh or the or the corporate Marketplace uh and return a profit to their bottom line that meets the expectation of their shareholders that is what those companies are supposed to be doing so to penalize a company who is who is executing on what their mandate is is very inappropriate all the money that New Jersey takes in taxes comes out of every single one of the your viewers Pockets but are they taking money out of my pocket if they're taking it out of Amazon's pocket yeah well you know you know how much you pay for Amazon products David you don't think that that's a direct function the taxes that Amazon pays can you break when we say a deal is a deal it's not just to say hey promise made promise kept it really has a ramification because businesses are looking forward to recapturing that 2.5% which they tell us they're going to put back into their people their Workforce their facilities Innovation right make reinvestment that's what we want the governor's office says he's standing by his promise to allow the sear charge to Sunset so even if scari Champions a bill which he didn't say he would that would most certainly face a veto from the governor likely leaving the entire question up to the next Governor if that's Jersey city mayor Steve fulli who's already suggested the idea himself he says he's in the reality is that when you look at the budget whether it be the broader budget or New Jersey Transit budget um if the state isn't willing to make some tough decisions um New Jersey is going to have a very very tough road ahead of us so uh this is a first step and an important step and I'm hopeful that they do it during the L do session but Scar's Tri balloon not withstanding don't expect this Administration or this legislature for that matter to do much of anything beyond letting the sun set on the sear charge for now I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News NJ Spotlight News