Jay Gallagher, Gannett News Service in the Elmira Star Gazette
The Senate Wednesday voted to suspend the 32-cents-per-gallon state tax on gasoline from Memorial Day to Labor Day. But the plan has almost no chance of becoming law because it is opposed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
“We don’t have the power to control most aspects of the price of gasoline,” said state Sen. George H. Winner Jr., R-Elmira. “But we do control the tax.’”
“Everyone understands the need for a fundamental, long-term, nationally directed effort to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Winner said in a news release. “But we can’t ignore the hardship of today’s gas prices on many families, and we can’t ignore the threat to local summer tourism.”
The Senate took the step after widespread public concern about the skyrocketing cost of gasoline, which is approaching $4 a gallon in some parts of the state and is expected to go even higher during summer’s peak driving season.
Despite the Senate action, the plan is likely to go no further since Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, who controls what bills come to the Assembly floor, is against it.
