Thursday, October 1, 2026
Nassau Republicans announced Monday that they have garnered over 50,000 signatures on a petition calling for the repeal of the Home Energy Tax, a 2.5-percent increase approved by Democrats last June as part of County Executive Tom Suozzi's three-point plan to close a whopping budget gap.
"This tax is a regressive, hidden tax," said Republican Minority Leader Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa). "As times get tough, you can choose not to go out to dinner as often as you might have, you can choose not to take a vacation this year, but you can't choose not to run the refrigerator or not to heat your house when your children are sleeping upstairs. This tax is unfair."
The tax — levied on oil, propane, gas, electric power and firewood — is expected to bring in $18 million by the end of this year, and another $40 million in 2010.
Republicans said that the energy tax amounts to a 4.5 percent tax increase in addition to the 3.9 percent property tax increase approved by Democrats in the 2009 fiscal budget. They added that because of "hidden" taxes like the energy tax, Suozzi's proposed "no-county-tax-increase" 2010 budget is misleading.
Schmitt, who was flanked by a number of Republican lawmakers while they stood aside a stack of firewood, propane tanks and the signed petitions, said that Republicans hope to repeal the tax as the first action taken at the Oct. 5 meeting of the Legislature. If Republicans take the majority in the Legislature after this November's election, Schmitt said he plans to make up the difference of repealing the energy tax by cutting $26 million in Suozzi-appointed patronage positions and repairing the county's assessment system — actions Schmitt said can save the county $126 million a year. The lawmaker added that residents can file petitions on his Web site, and that they can be submitted "until there are 10 Republicans on the Legislature or until one of the Democrats comes to their senses and decide to join us."
