Well, here we go again: another proposal for a one-day state sales tax holiday. This time, from the fertile mind of Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, and already attracting bipartisan support. Found in the Jan. 29 Bennington Banner, but first published in the Brattleboro Reformer:

Senate Bill No. 250, known as the Irene Economic Stimulus Bill, directs tax relief and incentives both to Vermont consumers and to those disproportionately affected by the storm. According to the legislation, Vermont’s 6-percent sales tax would be put on hold on Aug. 28 (the anniversary of the storm) to stimulate economic activity and promote the weatherization of homes.

Aside from the one-day sales tax holiday, there would be a one-week sales-tax holiday on home-weatherization supplies, and a 10-month sales tax holiday on mobile homes purchased to replace Irene-damaged units. That holiday would begin in the past — August 28 — and expire on June 30, 2012.

Now, my general view of sales tax holidays is that they’re gimmicks. They don’t do much to stimulate the economy; no more than your typical Presidents’ Day sale. And that’s exactly what they are: state-declared one-day Big Sales Events. On the other hand, they aren’t terrifically harmful either; the state loses some sales-tax receipts, but (in the immortal words of Mitt Romney) “not very much.” Most of the benefits are misdirected, to be sure; the people who can take advantage of sales-tax holidays are almost entirely those with enough $$$ to make discretionary purchases. But there are lots of worse ideas out there.  

However, the idea of tying a sales-tax holiday to the first anniversary of Irene seems… well… a bit tone-deaf, no? Are we going to have somber remembrances interspersed with mad dashes to the mall? A moment of silence for the victims of Irene just before Wal-Mart opens its doors? August 28 is a Tuesday; why not schedule the sale on Wednesday the 29th? Or the nearest Saturday, if you really want to goose sales.

The only part of Bill 250 that really has anything to do with Irene is the mobile-home tax holiday. That, I can sort of understand — although your average mobile-home resident left homeless is gonna need a whole lot more help than a tax holiday.

The rest of it can be marked down as political pandering.  

A sales tax holiday is popular with voters and with retailers. It’s kinda fun. But it has nothing to do with helping Vermont recover from Irene, and it has precious little to do with helping those devastated by Irene. They’re not going to wait until August 28 to replace lost possessions; by then, they will have already replaced everything they can afford to replace.

So if you want a sales tax holiday because we’ve sorta gotten used to them, go ahead and propose it. But please don’t tie it to Irene.

One more note regarding our beloved Lieutenant Governor. Phil Scott has — with a few exceptions — tried to maintain his image as a good guy who’s not particularly partisan (at least not by current Republican standards). In this case, it looks like he’s taken an idea of his own to Legislative leadership without Governor Shumlin’s knowledge. It looks like that, if you believe the Governor’s cautious response:

“We need to balance our desire to reduce the sales tax with our need to balance the budget, so one critical issue is how the state will pay for this $1.5-million package,” Shumlin said. “But I like the idea and look forward to learning more about this proposal.”

Now, I don’t know whether Shumlin really had no idea about this proposal or not. But if not, he can’t be very happy about Phil Scott going behind his back.

One more thing. If this is Phil Scott’s idea of bold, creative leadership — recycling an old pander from the Douglas Administration — then color me underwhelmed.