POUGHKEEPSIE – The Dutchess County Legislature is scheduled to vote on capping the sales tax on gasoline and diesel fuel at tonight’s (Monday) meeting. The legislature’s Budget & Finance Committee voted unanimously on the proposal at Thursday’s committee meeting.
The county’s sales tax on gasoline and highway diesel would be capped at $3.00 per gallon starting June 1 and remain in effect until November 30, 2026. The county estimates that the relief will result in $460,000 in revenue loss with the cap in effect, but Democratic leadership says the county has already collected more revenue than last year due to higher gas prices. When the budget was prepared, gasoline was approximately $3.19 per gallon, and it is now over $4 per gallon.
“Anything we can do as a legislative body to help working families right now,” said Legislature Chairwoman Yvette Valdés Smith, is reason to support the proposal. “Everybody is struggling. Struggling with utilities, we’re struggling with our groceries, our bills – and then to see these skyrocketing gas prices at the pumps – it hurts,” she told her colleagues during the committee meeting, while pointing out that the legislature has the ability to “do something right now.”
The full legislature will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 13, at the Dutchess County Office Building, to vote on the resolution.
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