WOW, ya think this is just a little biased? The Republicans are “pandering” and the cap on the gas tax “cost the New York” ….. First of all allow me to say that the Republicans are the only ones that are actually trying to save “THE TAXPAYERS” money. The state of NY has not LOST anything. It’s just money they have not taken from us.

By the way………………….. HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

Full of empty ideas

The prospects of $4 a gallon gasoline has New York politicians full of ideas about what to do to hold down prices. None of them are particularly bold or innovative, but some are better than others.

Some Republican state legislators, for instance, are pandering to voters this election year by calling for the suspension of the state gasoline tax this summer.

Shaving 32.75 cents off the cost of a gallon of gas might make driving a bit cheaper. But it might not. Some gas stations, as Governor Paterson suggests, might see it as a chance to keep prices where they were when the tax was still in effect.

In either case, suspending the gas tax means a further strain on the state’s finances at a time when Mr. Paterson is coming to the realization, just after approving a $121.7 billion budget, that spending needs to be cut further. The eight cents per gallon cap that the state imposed on the sales tax on gasoline two years ago already has cost New York about $450 million a year.

Some county officials, meanwhile, are thinking better of the sales tax limits that the state allows them to impose. Two years ago, 15 of the state’s 62 counties stopped collecting sales taxes on gas prices in excess of $2 a gallon. Now, however, just seven counties have such a cap.

Soon enough, that number might be down to six, if Onondaga County decides not to renew its cap when it expires on May 30. County Executive Joanie Mahoney would rather take that $5 million a year in new revenue and use it for a even more pressing need, namely property tax relief.

The evidence after two years is that slightly lower prices aren’t helping consumers. Rather, the benefits are being reaped by the oil companies — just as the governor warns.

Sen. Hillary Clinton should keep that in mind as she pushes — or is it more like panders? — for a suspension of the 18.4 cents a gallon federal excise tax on gasoline for the summer travel season. That puts her in the odd company of Sen. John McCain. It’s Sen. Barack Obama, alone among the three major presidential candidates, who sees a suspension of the excise tax as the gimmickry that it is.

Really, how much is that going to actually save motorists? Less consumption of oil is the best way to address what’s becoming an economic crisis.

Then there’s Sen. Charles Schumer’s proposal. He looks far beyond the gas pumps, to some of the countries that supply oil to the United States. He thinks he has a way to pressure Saudi Arabia and some other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase their production of oil.

It’s either sell us more oil, he says, or think again about buying all those American weapons.

An increase in the oil supply might help a bit, but only in the short run. Again, the best way to deal with gas prices that show no sign of stabilizing, let alone decreasing, is for Americans to change their driving habits.

Mr. Schumer, we suspect, is well aware of that, even if it makes for less of a headline than standing up to a country awaiting the completion of a $120 million deal for 900 bomb-guidance kits.