The pain in New Yorkers’ wallets over soaring gas prices has many digging deep in their pockets.
As of Tuesday, the average price of a gallon of gas in the Empire State is $4.58 per gallon. That’s 45 cents higher than a month ago, and eight cents higher than the national average.
“When this is over, you’re going to see prices drop like a rock,” said President Donald Trump in the Oval Office Monday.
Until that happens, higher prices at the pump continue to soar.
It’s the result of the U.S.-Iran conflict, now in its 10th week, which is tightening global oil supplies due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
While the war continues, Trump says he’s considering a federal gas tax holiday which would shave off 18 cents per gallon, but he’ll need approval from Congress to do it.
The president says if approved, the holiday would last “until it’s appropriate.”
“We’re in a negative economy right now,” said Democraticstate Assemblymember Landon Dais. “This is the least we can do.”
Dais, a member of his chamber’s Energy Committee, began calling for a state gas tax holiday in April.
“I think with the president mentioning he might do it, I think it gives us a little more lead way to do it also,” said Dais. “Even if it’s just for a short period of time.”
In March, 15 state senators sent a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul calling on her to suspend the state’s gas tax which, according to the State Division of Budget, would amount to about 32 cents a gallon.
Democratic state Sen. James Skoufis was one of the lawmakers who signed that letter.
“It’s great news if the federal government suspends the gas tax,” said Skoufis. “What would be even better is ending the war that is driving up the gas prices to begin with. This is the classic case of the arsonist putting out the fire and taking credit for putting out the fire that they started.”
When reached for comment, the governor’s office pointed Spectrum News 1 to comments Hochul made back in March when she expressed the last time the state did a gas tax holiday companies only raised their prices by the same amount.
She called on the federal government to step in.
“Help us out here,” said Hochul. “They created this. You need to solve it.”
Transportation officials say while this sounds like a good idea, suspending any gas tax whether federal or local is bad news for roadway maintenance and for areas that rely heavily on public transportation.
“It will probably cost the motorist more because the reduction in the price of a gallon of gas based on the federal tax reduction will likely not return to the public,” said Ron Epstein, senior advisor at Ostroff Associates. “It will be absorbed in the supply chain, and motorists will have to deal with poor road, bridge, and public transportation conditions.”
“Deferred maintenance – it leads to huge problems down the road. No pun intended. We will pay for this eventually,” said James Dussing, president of the New York State Association of Town Superintendent of Highways.