Rockland County Legislator Wants To Cap Sales Tax On Gas
NEW CITY, NY (WCBS 880 / AP) - With gas prices well over $4 a gallon, Rockland County legislator Ed Day says there is no way they can compete with New Jersey.
WCBS 880's Catherine Cioffi: Ed Day Says Residents Need To Be Unburdened
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He says county residents can't take it anymore.
That's why he's now pushing a bill to cap the county sales tax on gasoline at $2 a gallon.
"[This is] just to try to minimize the impact," he told WCBS 880 reporter Catherine Cioffi.
He says the county needs to stop burdening its residents with a 3.75 percent tax on whatever the price is.
"Folks who live up here understand this. You drive across the border and see all the gas stations in Jersey with lines of vehicles with New York plates," he says, adding that the county doesn't collect any tax on that.
Meanwhile, in Connecticut, speculation by energy traders accounts for the wide swings in the oil prices and gas prices, according to Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut).
WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau: Rep. Courtney Wants Prices Based On Supply And Demand
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Courtney says Federal Trade Commission has to enforce regulations that would stabilize prices.
"The rules would be that in order to trade on this market you have to be in the business of production and distribution of energy," Courtney told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau."
Courtney says speculators must either be excluded or sharply limited in terms of buying in and trading on fear.
He says there is certainly ample supply of oil and to stabilize prices, the market should be determined solely by supply and demand.
Pump prices may hit $4 a gallon by early May as U.S. supplies tightened after a series refinery outages reduced gasoline output this week.
The national average rose 2 cents on Friday to about $3.91 for a gallon of regular, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's 6 cents more than it was a week ago and more than $1 higher than a year ago.
While gas may hit $4 a gallon across the country within a week or two, many analysts believe it will begin to fall, perhaps by Memorial Day, as more gas becomes available.
Benchmark crude rose 7 cents to $112.93 a barrel in early trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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