New York Suspends Gasoline Tax For 7 Months Starting June 1

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US state of New York will suspend gasoline tax for seven months starting June 1 amid a surge in prices following the Biden administration’s decision to embargo Russian oil imports, Governor Kathy Hochul said during a budget announcement.

"We are going to suspend from June 1 to December 31 the state sales tax on fuel, which will result in an estimated $585 million in relief for working families and businesses across our state," Hochul said on Thursday.

Hochul also announced that effective upon signing the budget, the state of New York legalizes the sale of "to go" alcoholic drinks to bring relief for small businesses and restaurants.

The move is another attempt to decrease the gasoline prices on a state scale as the national fuel prices have been surging for the past month amid the Russian special military operation in Ukraine and a cascade of sanctions imposed on Moscow that followed it.

Last week, the Biden administration announced that it will release a record of 1.0 million barrels per day of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the next six months to alleviate a global supply crunch with a total of 180 million barrels to be added to the market to support the supply.