Oh those gas prices! – UPDATED
In addition to stoking the ire of motorists, steadily rising gas prices are providing candidates with an easy issue to raise as they head into the summer campaign season.
Today, it was Republican Bill Gouldman, who is seeking to unseat Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, an Ossining Democrat, in the 90th Assembly District. Gouldman held a press conference outside a Croton gas station to call for a cut in taxes on gasoline purchases.
“It is outrageous that both the State and Federal governments are getting tax windfalls as people suffer,” Gouldman said in a press release sent out by his campaign. “Politicians in Albany and Washington are out of touch with the everyday hardships people are facing. They lack the common sense that is needed to act now to help ease the burden that people are facing,”
UPDATE – Rep. Eliot Engel, who is running for re-election this fall, just issued a press release calling upon the Bush administration “to halt buying oil to fill the strategic petroleum reserve, as a means of lowering the price of gasoline before the summer travel season.”
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I have been driving a 100mpg Plug-in Hybrid for the past year. I use just 4kwh/60 cents of Clean Domestic Wind Energy to offset the amount of Dirty Foreign Oil I have to buy. For me it is about not producing so much air pollution and about our nation achieving energy independence so we can be more nationally secure.
It is not the Price of Gas that is huring us, it is how much we are using.
You tell them. It is shameful that our elected officials let this happen. Something must be changed. If he can get this done we will all be better off for it.
Keep up the good work.
Gas prices are killing us. I can hardly afford to go to work anymore, something must be done. It is refreshing to see Mr. Gouldman trying to do this.
Only a PERMANENT cut will make a difference. Otherwise, what happens in the Fall? Will they give up those taxes? No, they’ll take them from elsewhere, but still from everyone’s wallets.
As for Eliot Engel, who is just echoing Nancy Pelosi, that is ridiculous. It’s a drop in the bucket.
Why don’t the pols really address the problem? Take on Al Gore and the tree-huggers over ethanol, any and all bio fuels, and all the other crazed ideas which are affecting the prices of gas, heating oil and food in extremely adverse ways. That’s the answer. Not the band-aids being pushed by the politicians.
If you think it’s bad now, just wait. And it won’t be a long wait, either.
Wahoo, I agree with you a PERMANENT cut would make a differance. But we have to start somewhere. I am glad this guy is out infront of this issue, no one else is. It is good to see a republican trying to get elected. In this tough time for Republicans it is refreshing.
William Gouldman is a horse’s ass
sandy galef is soooo out of touch. in response to goldman calling for the cut in gas prices, she called for another study.
typical big government bs at work. everything needs to be studied, debated, polled – meanwhile, nothing gets done.
cut the damn gas taxes! we can’t afford it anymore!
$3.87, $4.02, $4.12 for GAS???? There’s probably 50 cents on each gallon that is all for taxes.
$3.37, $3.52, $3.62 is still expensive to me. I understand what Bill Gouldman is saying, and it’s a good idea, but all he’s really talking about is saving about $10 each time we fill up. Sure, that can add up, but I still remember not too long ago, paying anywhere from $1.50 – $2.00 per gallon, thinking THAT was expensive. Something else is going on here.
Everything is going up except salaries and people are hurting yet we have a President and Congress that ignore us and a government in Albany too dysfunctional to get the job done.
This guy has it totally ass backwards and is simply factually incorrect. Gas taxes, both state and local are cents per gallon not a percentage. Pretty much unique among taxes, certainly the sales tax goes up with prices. Gas tax revenues don’t go up as price does, get it. Lower gas taxes just defund road and transit construction and encourage bigger vehicles driving more miles, great for congestion and the environment. The big winners when fuel taxes are kept low are OPEC, Osama bin Laden and Oklahoma. People pay what the market will bear if fuel taxes are lowered the energy companies will simply raise the price accordingly. This is obvious stuff to anyone who has read history or studied economics. You have so many educated people in your readership how can you pander to such silly politics and economics.
Galef held one of her infamous “public forums” back in November on the issue of Global Warming. She had DEC commissioner Pete Grannis on hand for this one. I remember an audience member asking then about high gas prices and there was a chuckle from Galef, Grannis and the rest of dais. The questioner was dismissed with “that’s another issue” and then they went on talking about how they think they alone can stop global warming. The arrogance of these people is amazing, Galef refuses to take action on gas prices, something she can actually have an impact on. Meanwhile, she spends over 3 hours talking about global warming, pretending like she’s really going to have an impact. I didn’t know Sandy convinced the Chinese to stop burning coal…
She really has done a bum job for the people she’s supposed to represent. Her recent movie theater legislation was about as hair-brained as they come. Bill Gouldman is right on this issue but who knows where he stands on others or if he has the experience to be a good legislator. It would be better to have someone like Marshall Goldberg run for State Assembly. He’s a Democrat which is a plus, and he has tons of experience. As a school board member, he knows all about Galef’s unfunded mandates and other problems that she’s created. I think he would win if he decided to run, he should think about.
Government over-regulation is killing the economy. Farmers are getting paid big government bucks to grow corn for ethanol. They take the subsidies, creating a shortage of corn everywhere else—and also a shortage of some other foods because the farmers are growing the corn for the government money instead of other crops.
Prices also go up for anything corn-related. That includes feed for animals, and those costs are passed on.
The standards being devised for cars’ gas mileage are not do-able economically, and they are hurting the auto industry. The cars will be smaller, lighter, much less safe, and much more expensive.
The Left-wingers won’t allow refineries, offshore drilling, and anything else that would help. The Right wing rolls over and plays dead.
This entire mess in the fuel and food situation is either government created or at least made worse to a large extent—either by action, inaction or over-regulation. The travel part of the economy is tanking too. Airlines going broke, long lines, higher fares. Higher transportation costs affect food prices, too. Etc. Etc.
It almost all is fixable. But the cowards in government would rather blame the oil companies. They are lying.
William Gouldman has my vote
On News 12, Assemblywoman Sandra Galef response was – We should study the issue. Sandy, the time for studies must stop, we know what the problem is. What are you going to do to help the middleclass tax payers afford to live in our community? Studies will not do it.
For a very good column which explains this bad situation regarding ethanol, fuel and food in a way most media haven’t wanted to do, let me suggest reading Deroy Murdock’s article of April 24. It’s in National Review online. It can be found by searching on Google under “Deroy Murdock” + ethanol. That’s Murdock with a “k.”
The facts he outlines speak for themselves.
Add on: As others said here a few days ago, the speculators in the commodities markets are themselves driving up the price of oil. Government does nothing.
The oil companies are convenient villains. But their profit margins aren’t obscene. They are also regulated to death. There is a grade of gas for each day of the week, or so it seems, and grades OK for California but not New York, and so on. The biggest villain is government.
Mr. Machiavelli, you are wrong my friend. 4% of gas price goes to Ny stae that is in addition to the 8cents per gal the state charges in excise tax. then the county of Westchester charges 4% on gallon as well. The feds get their cut too, but it is not a percent. aqverage tax per gallon in NYS is around 65 cents per gallon. Where did you get your facts Nicc?
Do you believe it .65 cents of every gallon going for taxes. Something must be done. This will cause the price of everything to go up more than it has already has.
It is about time some politician is doing something about it.
A Person who Cares, you are right.
Nope, sorry, Wahoo, I ain’t buying the profit margin stuff. For a great analysis of just what Exxon Mobil’s profit of $40.6 Billion last year really means, check out here…
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2008/02/01/exxons-profits-measuring-a-record-windfall.html
Keep in mind that much of that profit is also due to the fact that they are not reinvesting much, if at all, in expanding refinery capacity. What THAT does is keep their margin up in the short term, and in the long-term creates shortages, which drives up the prices we pay. For them, it’s a win-win situation. Not so much for us…
I feel it’s unfair that we have to pay these gas prices and the main problem is that the prices are going to continue to go up and up. Disgusting. There must be something this government can do with adjusting these gas prices.
Gas taxes don’t work that way. This guy is pandering to idiots.
Gas taxes don’t work what way. Haven’t you put gas in your car lately. Or maybe you have one of those large SUV’s and you don’t care about the price of gas. Well alot of us do. He seems to be responding to the reality that everyone is facing. Isn’t that what we want our elected officials to be doing.
If you can remember, just a few weeks ago, McCain was saying that we should have a holiday from federal gas taxes. That went nowhere fast, because it’s stupid economics. Those particular taxes go to pay for maintenance and construction of the roads run by the feds. To cut those funds would result in stuff like crappy roads, bridges collapsing, and a loss of jobs. Is there any reason to think it wouldn’t be any different with the state and local taxes?
It’s just politicians pandering to voters by projecting the appearance that they’re “doing something about it.” In actuality, I’m sure that they’re well aware that these proposals aren’t going to go anywhere, but it gives the right appearance to the casual observer, and gives them an opportunity to blame someone else when it goes nowhere.
A 3 month holiday from the fed gas tax (about $.18/gal) would end up saving me personally about $47, or about $3.90 a week. While I wouldn’t turn any extra cash down, how far do you think $3.90 would go with today’s prices? It’s a bandaid, backed by empty promises.
Walt you can send the $47 that you do not want to a local charity, because our Assembywoman Sandy Galef does not give member items to local community groups when they need them. It will be a start to try to make up for the thousand’s of dollars that she does not bring back to her community.
McCain has said he wants to eliminate the huge farm subsidies for corn used for ethanol. Ethanol and any other bio-fuels are major problems affecting the price of food, fuel and a lot of other things because those costs from the shortages related to them are passed on to the consumers.
Both parties are responsible. But the terrible ethanol idea originated with the Al Gore crowd, those people who like to embrace trees and sing “Wooden Heart” to them.
Bill Gouldman has a good idea. The taxes should have been cut years ago but no politician is willing to give up the cash because that would mean they would have to spend less…
Ethanol from food crops is a stoopid idea, but don’t blame it on Gore. Gore is a big proponent of celluosic ethanol, which is made from plant fibers, like wood, cornstalks, switchgrass, and even paper and compost. Not food. A quote from an interview with Gore in 2006…
“How about the other big, new contender, ethanol?
Gore: Cellulosic ethanol. Different from corn-based ethanol. I think it is going to be a huge new source of energy, particularly for the transportation sector. You’re going to see it all over the place. You’re going to see a lot more flex-fuel vehicles. You’re going to see new processes that utilize waste as the source of energy, so there’s no petroleum consumed in the process—that makes the energy balance uniformly positive, so you can regrow it and it does become, in a real sense, renewable. You may also begin to see a new generation of fuel cells that run on cellulosic ethanol, where you can grow your own electricity. I think it’s going to play a huge role.”
BTW, even with corn-based ethanol, that doesn’t explain the shortages of rice or wheat, which are NOT used to make ethanol.
Nice try, Wahoo/Ethan.
Send me the money- Good idea, but being a musician, charity begins at home.
I’m also at a loss to understand an apparent paradox- When John McCain rails against earmarks/member items, he’s hailed as a straight shooting maverick that will fix DC. When Sandy Galef does the same thing, it’s bad?
When Sandy Galef does not bring home member items she is affecting the people in her district. If I remember I heard somewhere that Greg Ball brought $100,000 in member items to his district as a freshman assemblyman, and Assemblyman Brodsky brought back $300,000 last year. This is alot of money. These funds could be spent on senior programs, veterans groups, and little league fields.
Yes if all member items were throughout the state were kicked out. We could save hundreads of thousands of dollars. But the current situation is not like that. So her district gets hurt.
A lowering of the gas tax will not wean us from our addiction to oil. We must find alternative sources of energy that will lead to long term solutions, rather than pandering short term fixes that won’t even make a difference. Gouldman’s opponent, Sandy Galef, has been endorsed by the NY League of Conservation Voters and has a 100% rating from the Environmental Advocates of New York. I’m voting for the woman with a REAL concern for the environment and for the future.