City & State look to ease pain at pump

With gas prices well over $3 throughout the city and state and Memorial Day weekend right around the corner, both City and State lawmakers are scrambling to come up with solutions to ease the burden at the pump for millions of New Yorkers.
The State Legislature reached an agreement last week that would cap the State sales taxes on gas at eight cents per gallon, freezing the tax at the $2 per gallon rate effective June 1, which would reportedly save New Yorkers as much as $450 million per year.
“I understand how burdensome rising fuel costs have been and know that a reduction in the sales tax is only a portion of what needs to be done,” said Senator Frank Padavan, who helped introduce the legislation. “But I also know it will help - estimated savings are more than $450 million annually.”
However, according to published reports, Governor George Pataki believes the legislation needs some improvements, including how the cuts will benefit consumers directly and how the legislature plans to pay for the cuts, before he would sign it.
Under the legislation, local governments would have the option of passing a law to cap their local sales tax on gas at a fixed rate at or lower than the 12 to 15 cents per gallon they currently collect, and Padavan hopes that the City Council will take similar measures reducing the local taxes.
“If it is enacted at the state level, clearly, it is something that we would consider at the local level,” said Councilman John Liu, chair of the transportation committee.
While the Council is looking into a number of proposals, it is still unclear whether they will act on this measure.
“It’s not going to roll over to the consumer so there is no point,” said Councilman Leroy Comrie, chair of the consumer affairs committee. “We need to do something that is going to benefit the consumers.”
Nearly two weeks ago, Councilman John Liu introduced legislation aimed at stopping the price gouging at local gas stations by placing a cap on the number of times stations can change their prices each day - once every 24 hours.
“It’s in committee and we expect to have hearings on my bill within the next couple of months,” Liu said. “My bill is not by itself going to fix the problem with the rising gas prices, but it’s necessary to prevent the most egregious form of price gouging.”