Gas prices are sky high, but Mayor Bloomberg says the city can’t afford to do anything about it and Albany lawmakers have no plans to reduce taxes at the pump.

“Our expenses are going up when the cost of heating oil, the cost of diesel fuel, when the cost of gasoline goes up,” Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday when asked whether taxes on gas should be suspended.

“The fact of the matter is, gasoline is going up and there’s not a lot that this city or this state can do about it,” the mayor said. “It has to do with national and international politics and worldwide commerce and things that the governor and mayor really can’t control.”

The state’s gas taxes are among the highest in the Northeast, standing at about 64 cents a gallon. That total includes the state and city sales taxes, which are percentages of what motorists pay to fill up – and so rise as the price of gas goes up.

With gas selling for more than $3 a gallon in New York and climbing higher, consumer groups are pressuring elected leaders to provide some financial relief.

The head of government affairs at the Automobile Club of New York, the local affiliate of the AAA, John Corlett, said he wants the state and city sales tax on gas to be suspended.

“We just launched a petition campaign,” Mr.Corlett said. “We think it’s almost unconscionable that as prices rise higher and higher, the state is reaping a windfall while motorists are suffering.”

With summer road trip season fast approaching, elected leaders do not seem to be in the same panic they were when gas prices spiked five years ago. In 2000, Governor Pataki implemented a nickel a gallon discount on fuel sold on the New York Thruway for the summer months and Albany lawmakers came up with dueling proposals to reduce the burden of gas prices.

Some budget analysts and observers say a suspension of gas taxes is not realistic or economically smart. Instead, most favor the elimination of the taxes, a cap, or no tax change at all. With the ink barely dry on the budget, it is unclear where a stand-alone tax cap would fit into the state’s fiscal picture.

The Republican-controlled state Senate has already passed a bill that would cap the amount of the gas that could be taxed at $2. But the Democratic-led Assembly rejected an identical measure, and it was not adopted as part of the state budget.

A spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, said reducing gas taxes is a priority.

“We wholeheartedly support it,” the spokesman, Mark Hansen, said. “Obviously, as prices of gasoline continue to rise every single day, the need becomes greater to provide tax relief to hardworking New Yorkers at the pump.”

Mr. Pataki said yesterday the state should be turning to fuel alternatives. A spokesman for the governor, Peter Constantakes, said the governor would review any “fiscally responsible proposals.”

Officials in Mr. Pataki’s budget division insist that the state has not received a windfall of cash from the skyrocketing gas prices. A spokesman for the office called the claim a “common misperception” and said the state was not making money off of motorists.

Meanwhile, as frustration mounts among drivers, Republicans in the Assembly have plans to pressure their house to take on the issue again. It will be up to the speaker, Sheldon Silver, and the majority leader whether that happens.

The Republican minority leader, James Tedisco, who represents Saratoga and Schenectady, introduced an amendment earlier this month that is identical to the Senate bill. He said it would save motorists between eight and 10 cents a gallon.

The chairman of the Assembly’s energy committee, Paul Tonko, said that while the Senate passed a bill to cap gas prices, its leaders did not fight for it in budget negotiations.

Mr.Tonko said that though he wouldn’t rule out a cap, raising the issue now disrupts the balance between revenue and the tax cuts just agreed to in the budget. He said it was “disingenuous and irresponsible.”

He also said there are no guarantees that motorists would see the dividends of a tax cap in their wallets. He cited President Bush’s requirement that gas and ethanol now be blended as one of the main reasons that the cost of gas is rising.

Also yesterday, a Republican seeking Senator Clinton’s seat, John Spencer, called on Mrs. Clinton to push to eliminate the 18-cent federal gas tax that New Yorkers pay.

Separately, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said he is investigating whether oil producers are price-gouging. According to the Associated Press, Mr. Spitzer blamed Mr. Bush’s energy policy for the soaring gas prices. Mr. Bush says ethanol is needed to wean the country off oil.

The latest battle comes just days after the cost of crude oil reached $75 a barrel Friday, setting a new record. That is more than 40% higher than a year ago.

The director of the Empire Center, E.J. McMahon, said he was surprised there was not more public clamoring on the issue. As prices continue to rise, the state should seriously consider doing something to stem the spiraling costs and to ensure that drivers are not subject to volatile market changes, he said.