Suffolk suspends gas tax on amounts over $3 per gallon

The Suffolk County Legislature on Tuesday followed Nassau County in suspending collection of sales tax on gasoline on amounts over $3 per gallon.

Suffolk lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution to cap at $3 the price of gas and motor fuel the county will tax. The legislation will go into effect June 1.

The Nassau County Legislature adopted the same partial cap on Monday night.

For example, if the price of gasoline were $4.11, the first $3 per gallon would be taxed at the 4.25% county sales tax rate, and the remaining $1.11 would not be taxed. The savings would be about 5 cents per gallon.

Suffolk Legis. Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), the presiding officer, said Tuesday at a news conference with Suffolk and Nassau lawmakers that Suffolk legislators “want to be lock step with them on this.”

"This is a regional problem, it doesn't change when you cross over the county line," McCaffrey said.

The tax suspensions in Nassau and Suffolk counties came after the State Legislature voted to lop off 16 cents in state taxes per gallon of gasoline.

The State Legislature also gave New York counties the option of halting local taxes to help motorists cover rising costs.

The state law runs from June 1 to Dec. 31.

Nassau's law takes effect immediately, or as soon as state law allows.

Gasoline prices are surging, and the Ukraine war has contributed to the escalating costs to consumers.

The average price for a gallon of regular gas in New York is $4.21, compared with $2.89 a year ago, according to the AAA.

"What we do know right now is there is pain out there, as people are dealing with rising prices, and certainly we're seeing that most manifest at the gas pump," Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, a Democrat, said at the news conference.

Suffolk collects about $80 million annually in gas sales tax, accounting for 5% to 6% of the county’s sales tax revenues, McCaffrey said.

Because gas prices have soared, Suffolk has collected more in gasoline taxes than officials had anticipated.

In the first quarter of 2022, county gas sales tax receipts were $95 million, Suffolk County Budget Director Lance Reinheimer told county legislators Tuesday.

Reinheimer said the gas tax suspension is expected to cost the county about $15 million in receipts.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, said the county gasoline tax reductions bring, "us back to approximately 2020 [gas tax] levels."

Nassau wanted to adopt, "something that was meaningful, but at the same time would not have an impact in a negative way on our budget," Blakeman said at the news conference.

"We're only collecting taxes on what gas was in 2020. Any windfall, we're giving back to the people," he said. "We would have had a windfall in Nassau County, and I think you would have also here in Suffolk County, if we didn't do this today."

The suspension of the gas tax on amounts over $3 per gallon will end on Dec. 31 in both counties, officials said.

Democratic lawmakers in Nassau have been urging Blakeman to suspend the county gasoline sales tax entirely.

They had proposed legislation to suspend sales taxes on amounts of more than $2 per gallon.