Gasoline prices have kept many people busy in recent weeks – even those who don’t drive have seen the numbers on gas station signs soar in the weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine. Today we’ll look at the prospects for a gas tax vacation in New York and a brief but intense push in New Jersey for drivers to pump their own fuel at gas stations.
And while my colleague Grace Ashford says everyone wants to share in a tax cut just to feel good, some worry that fuel companies could raise the base price for a gallon of gasoline, hurting their bottom line. There is also concern that the tax ramifications of dropping the gas tax — which brings in about $2.2 billion a year in combined state and local revenue — could undermine other priorities, including roads, bridges and public transportation.
“Most economists think it’s a bad idea,” said Harvard economics professor Jason Furman, adding that the debate has been less about whether a tax break is harmful than about how harmful it would be. “Is it, you know, something terrible that you should never do? Or is it a minor bad thing, and why not just go ahead and do it because it’s good politics?”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat from Buffalo, did not include a gas tax suspension in its executive budget plan. But she indicated last week she was open to including one in the state budget, due Friday.
A poll in Siena released Monday showed that 70 percent of voters across party lines favored some sort of tax cut. Democrats, especially those from the state and Long Island, where Republicans have made significant strides, have taken note of this year’s election.
No full service gas in New Jersey? Not really.
New Jersey is the only state in the country to require clerks to pump gas for every customer, a service that a majority of residents have repeatedly told pollsters they support. The oddity is often worn as a badge of honor on T-shirts and bumper stickers that read “Jersey Girls Don’t Pump Gas.”
Earlier this month, proponents of self-service gas again introduced a bill that would allow self-service gas. The effort was supported by a gas station industry group. Proponents said it was a matter of driver choice in a world where most major drugstores and supermarkets offer self-service checkouts.
More about gas prices in New York and New Jersey
But Nicholas Scutari, the Democratic chairman of the State Senate, put an end to speculation earlier this month when he said he was not in favor of changing things. “The people of New Jersey are very clear about wanting to preserve the system we have now,” Scutari said in a policy statement first reported by the New Jersey Monitor. Scutari, whose support would be vital to renewing the way New Jerseyans have gotten their gas since 1949, also said he wasn’t convinced having self-service jobs would lower gas prices.
Weather
Expect a chance of light rain in the morning and a chance of showers in the late afternoon, with temperatures in the high 60s. Temperatures drop below 50 at night. Prepare for rain and thunderstorms.
parking on the other side
Valid until April 14 (Maundy Thursday).
The latest New York news
A wave of overdue books and DVDs came in after New York City’s three public library systems abolished backlogs last year. Some of the items returned were accompanied by apologetic notes.
“Enclosed are books I’ve borrowed and kept in my house for 28-50 years!” a reader wrote before placing a box of books at the New York Public Library headquarters. “I am now 75 years old and these books have helped me through motherhood and my teaching career. I’m sorry I lived with these books for so long. They became family.”
When someone checked out a copy of the “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” short story in July 1970, the Flushing Library in Queens occupied a fat building on Main Street and Kissena Boulevard. When the book was returned in December, it reverted to a curved metal and glass structure completed in 1998 in the same triangular spot.
And what was it about “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day,” a 2009 action movie with a 23 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes? Three DVD copies returned in three different libraries in three different boroughs.
The libraries’ decision to drop fines followed the example of libraries in Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and San Francisco, among others. New York’s systems collected between $3 million and $4 million in fines in fiscal 2019, the last before the coronavirus pandemic, and stopped collecting them in March 2020.
“We learned that we could adjust our budget to do everything we needed to do and cover the lost revenue,” Anthony Marx, the president of the New York Public Library, told our writer Gina Cherelus. He said that libraries “are not in the revenue-generating business. We’re in the encouragement-to-read-and-learn business, and we got in the way” by collecting fines.
Those fines have been mounting for years. “I can’t tell you how tense our customers are over these fines,” said Tienya Smith, a librarian who runs the Long Island City, Queens branch.
More than 21,000 overdue or lost items have been returned in Manhattan, some so old they were no longer in the library system. Up to the end of February, about 51,000 items were returned in Brooklyn. And over 16,000 were returned to Queens. (Libraries still charge replacement fees for lost books.) Fortunately for the libraries, the announcement that fines were being eliminated brought in more than just books and DVDs. A woman sent the Queens Public Library a $1,000 donation on behalf of her 93-year-old mother.
Billy Parrott, who manages the Stavros Niarchos Foundation library in Midtown, the city’s largest circulating branch, said most overdue items were returned by mail or book rather than in person. This makes sense: late books can be a source of embarrassment. But librarians insist they don’t judge.
“It’s all about the books for us,” Parrott said.
What we are reading
METROPOLITAN diary
corner cabinet
Dear Diary:
I live in Astoria. One day, while I was walking with my mother and on the phone, I saw a doorman put a beautiful corner cabinet next to a pile of garbage outside the church a few doors down from my building.
It was a high quality piece that I knew would look great in my apartment, so I ran home to get a tape measure and then returned to see if it was the right size.
While I was measuring, I heard a small voice behind me.
“Will it fit?”
I turned and saw a young man standing.
I said goodbye to my mother and turned back to the young man.
“I think so,” I said.
“I’ll carry it for you, if you like,” he said.
How could I refuse?
Without saying a word, he lifted the cupboard easily and hoisted it over his shoulder. We walked down the street and went up the stairs when we got to my building.
Once we got inside and the cabinet was in place, I wasn’t sure how to thank him.
He saw my piano.
“Will you play me a song?”
— Katie Coleman
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here†
