Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Some more relief at the gas pumps could be on its way for Erie County residents.
In a tweet sent out Tuesday morning, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced he is sending a resolution to the Erie County Legislature to temporarily cap the County's sales tax on gas at $2 per gallon starting June 1. Poloncarz also says that based on current rates, an 11-cent reduction per-gallon will result if retailers pass on the reduction.
"I think it's a needed relief to taxpayers," said Erie County Legislator Jeanne Vinal on the resolution sent by Poloncarz on Tuesday. "It's still some needed relief, because most of the time, most of our driving is out of necessity, not out of just pleasure. The people do have to go to work, they have to go to the doctors, they have to go shopping, etc. So I think it's a needed relief at a good time."
"We met with representatives of the administration last week to talk about lowering the sales tax on gas. At that time, the administration wanted us to lower it, or cap the sales tax at $3 per-gallon. But my colleagues in the minority - John Mills, Frank Todaro, Chris Greene, and I - told them that we preferred the $2 cap, which is the lowest that we could go based on State law," added fellow County Legislator Joe Lorigo on Tuesday. "I'm happy to see that the County Executive heard our calls and sent it over with the $2 cap."
It was earlier this month when New York State agreed to give counties the right to choose whether or not to cap the County's sales tax on gas, with the earliest date to begin the process set for June 1. The County was given the choice to cap it at either $2 per-gallon, $3 per-gallon, $4 per-gallon or make no change at all.
So why did Lorigo and his fellow Legislators push for the $2 per-gallon cap rather than $3 per-gallon?
"Capping the sales tax at $3 really would have only provided about a 5-cent per-gallon, or 60-cent per-fill up discount for Erie County residents. By going to the lowest amount possible, $2 per-gallon, we've increased that to anywhere from 9-11 cents per-gallon, or $1 to $1.20 per-fill up," Lorigo explained. "I realize that's not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but every little bit helps at a time when inflation is through the roof and costs of everything are high. What we really need is we need the state to eliminate their sales tax and the federal government to do their part and reduce the the federal excise tax that exists on gasoline."
Related
Both Lorigo and Vinal are in agreement that the cap of the sales tax on gas is a good thing for taxpayers of Erie County. Vinal believes the resolution makes sense for the County, given that it shares sales tax revenues with school districts and the cities and towns within the County, unlike other neighboring counties.
"Obviously, there's a little bit of worry there, but because of the fact that inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods and with all the stimulus and other things - increasing the number of dollars in the economy and with supply chain (not on gas but on other things) decreasing the number of goods - that the inflation may be a temporary thing. So that this way, it's a relief," Vinal said. "The other taxes on gasoline, that are specifically for gasoline, are per-gallon, not per-dollar. Those are just based on the number of gallons used, which goes for highway, construction and public transportation and removal of tanks. Bottom line is, I think that because sales tax is higher than anticipated due to inflation, that the towns and the cities and the school districts that rely on that sales tax collected by the County should be able to not have an impact, I'm hoping."
While this resolution sent to the Legislature by Poloncarz is only temporary, Vinal and Lorigo hope to see the potential of a permanent solution to give Erie County taxpayers some long-term relief at the pumps.
"What we also learned is that other counties in New York, mainly Seneca County, has had a sales tax cap on gas at $2 since 2005," Lorigo said. "My colleagues in the minority and I plan to push to make that $2 cap a permanent cap so that Erie County residents never have to pay Erie County sales tax on anything over and above $2 per-gallon."
It is expected that the vote on the temporary resolution will come on Thursday when Legislators meet for session. However, there is no timeline for any permanent resolution to be voted on.