As reported in today’s paper, the four percent residential energy tax is no more, as of December 1, 2021 that is.

Just for context, the county legislature voted to put the tax in place in the summer of 2020 to boost revenues as there was much uncertainty surrounding how much aid the county would receive from the state as the economy had taken a pretty severe hit during the pandemic.

The tax took effect on September 1, 2020, and was set to sunset in early 2023.

It was then revealed this past March that county finances were much better than anticipated and talk of repealing it in its entirety was brought up, pending results of the county’s audit.

Now let’s fast forward to a special meeting held on August 5. After hearing a county audit where it was stated the county’s financial health would be stable if they had $5-10 million in their fund balance, which is in line with what the Department of the Treasury calculated as the county’s loss of revenue during the pandemic, legislators were split on a resolution to amend the energy tax so it would only be imposed on electricity, with some believing the tax should be repealed in its entirety. The legislature did ask for more financial information so they could ascertain how much revenue came from taxing electricity. The four legislators who wanted the tax gone completely –– Nadia Rajsz, Ira Steingart, Joe Perrello and Luis Alvarez –– continued to push for it to be repealed and after receiving more information, the legislature voted unanimously to repeal the tax in its entirety last Thursday.

This is certainly a complicated topic and we do not envy the legislature and county for the financial decisions they’ve had to make during the pandemic. We certainly understand the argument made by the five legislators who voted in favor of leaving the tax on electricity earlier this month, in an effort to spread the pain across more people in an effort to get the county to financial stability, but at the same time, understand the position that people’s wallets are hurting right now and a four percent tax, while it might seem small to some, is a burden for many families.

We commend the legislature as a whole for voting to get rid of the residential energy tax after gathering more information.

Yes, any dollar amount from revenue helps when constructing a budget, but we believe the legislature made the right choice.

Living in New York State, which if you haven’t figured out, isn’t cheap, we feel more taxation is never the answer.