With gas prices exploding through the four dollar per gallon mark in recent days, there’s a growing call for suspending the state’s nearly 50 cent per gallon gas tax.
State Senator Pam Helming supports the suspension. She says high fuel prices not only affect all of us who drive every day, but particularly affect farmers in the Finger Lakes, who are getting ready to put machinery in the field for planting season.
Proceeds from the gas tax support highway and bridge maintenance, but Helming says the state’s budget surplus provides ample funds to take care of roads and bridges while a suspension is in place.
Governor Kathy Hochul says she’s considering suspending the tax, but says she’s not sure the reduction would find its way into motorists’ pockets. She says a gas tax suspension is “under review.”
Listen to my full Inside the FLX conversation with State Senator Pam Helming below.
