Senate OKs Removing Gas Tax

From the Long Island Business News (libn.com)

By John Callegari

The New York State Senate voted Tuesday to eliminate the state-imposed gas tax for three holiday weekends in 2011.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Greg Ball, R-Carmel, would remove the roughly 33-cent per gallon tax New York charges at the pump for the Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day holiday weekends.

While the bill easily passed the Senate with a vote of 48-14, it has been held up in committee in the Assembly, making it unlikely to passed in time to take effect for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Freshman Sen. Jack Martins, R-Mineola, one of the bill’s supporters, said the bill would give residents a break on the weekends when they would be driving the most.

“If we have the opportunity to provide gas tax free and let our residents save some money on fuel costs, we should,” Martins said. “This puts more money in the pockets