What say ye to renewed cries for a temporary suspension of the sales tax on gasoline? Good idea or political pandering that will cost taxpayers more in the long run? You be the judge. (If you don't feel like leaving a comment, you can vote in the new HPR poll in the column on the upper right-hand side of your screen.)
With gasoline prices averaging $4.11 a gallon and the Fourth of July just days away, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jill Long Thompson urged Gov. Mitch Daniels on Tuesday to suspend the state sales tax on gas until Labor Day.
"It is time for the governor to stop stalling and take action to help Hoosiers cope with these excessive prices," she said.
The move would save someone with a weekly $50 fill-up about $3.50 a week, she estimated, or $28 over two months.
But the cost to the state's general fund in lost sales tax revenue would be much higher - $122 million for a 60-day suspension.
If I remember right the only study done on the matter the last time we suspended the gas tax (back when the sky was falling and gas was $2 a gallon!) showed that we didn't save much, if any, money by removing the tax because the retailers' prices tended to float upwards to take up the slack. I say let supply and demand work; getting the government involved usually doesn't help things.