By Hank Russell
A Nassau County legislator is calling on the Republican majority to hold a hearing on a gas tax holiday which she said would lower the cost of gas for motorists.
Once again, Cynthia Nuñez (D-Valley Stream) has brought back her legislation that would only tax the first $3 per gallon of gas when people fill up at the pump. The purpose of the bill, Nuñez said, is to provide financial relief to drivers as gas prices have gone north of $4 since the start of the war in Iran.
News 12 reported that motorists would save approximately four cents per gallon under the proposed legislation.
This is the second time that Nuñez introduced this legislation. As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, Nuñez introduced the bill during an April 20 press conference that would temporarily cap the taxable price of gasoline and diesel for Nassau County’s local 4.25% sales-tax calculation at $3.00 per gallon from June 1 to December 1. At that time, she urged her colleagues to bring it up for an emergency vote at the next scheduled legislative session.
Nuñez was asked to revise the bill, which she did. In a revised copy of the bill obtained by LILP, the holiday would take effect on September 1 and run until December 31 if the bill is passed. The holiday may be extended if the legislature decides to do so.
During the June 29 legislative session, Nuñez brought up the importance of the bill. “I would like to ask yourself and this legislative body to please consider and place the gas tax holiday that we filed [on the Legislative calendar],” she said. “We amended that filing, as this Legislature knows. We originally filed with the hopes of getting it to committees to have a debate and discussion to cap the tax over $3 on gas in Nassau County. We anticipated it for a June 1 implementation date, and that unfortunately did not happen.
The legislator called for the bill to be on the July 13 agenda so it can be debated and voted on by the committees before it moves on to the July 27 meeting so that a public hearing on the legislation can take place, followed by a full vote by the legislature, and since there is no meeting in August.
She also pointed out that other counties in the state — Rockland, Duchess, Ulster, Onondaga, Syracuse and Chemung — began implementing their gas tax holidays on June 1.
“[P]lease calendar it during committees so that we can have a meaningful debate and conversation around it and help save Nassau County taxpayers [and put] money in their pockets,” Nuñez said.
The gas tax holiday does not include capping federal and state taxes. According to the Tax Handbook, the federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon (24.2 cents for diesel). The state’s excise tax is eight cents per gallon for both gas and diesel, but those using gasoline will pay an additional tax of 17 cents per gallon, 15 cents for diesel.
Additionally, gas prices have reversed course since the war in Iran began. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), a gallon of gas costs $3.89 as of this writing — higher than the national average ($3.82), but cheaper than the state’s ($4.08).
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told News 12 he opposed the proposal, saying it was “hypocritical for the same Democrats who defunded critical public safety projects in the capital plan and voted for a $150 million tax increase to now call for a gas tax holiday.”
LILP reached out to the county executive’s office to find out how much revenue Nassau collected when gas prices rose. This reporter did not hear back as of press time.
LILP also reached out to the GOP legislative majority for comment on the bill, but did not hear back as of press time.