Not exactly the holiday we need

If you hoped the $750 billion financial bailout would improve the economy and save your job prospects, you probably have been disappointed.

Unfortunately, if you were waiting for a good plan for the remaining $350 billion allocated for the bailout, you have to keep waiting.

Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence recently signed on to a plan to create a tax holiday that would free the nation from income taxes for two months. The leftover $350 billion would cover the budget hole from the government losing two months of its biggest money maker.

If some Hoosiers recently wondered about the prospects of Gov. Mitch Daniels one day ascending to political prominence, Pence tried to lead the Republican Party for a while. Representing Indiana’s sixth district, he made an unsuccessful bid for House majority leader but became a Republican conference chairman, making him the third-highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives.

It is a shame that this was one of the first major proposals Pence attached his name to since getting the post. The plan, which is the brain child of Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert, would likely do little to help the economy and reeks of blatant populism.

In the short run, a two-month tax holiday would do little to alter the behavior of consumers, and it is unclear how the holiday would be implemented. Those who withhold little of their income before they pay taxes would know that in theory they were getting more money, but it might not appear that way in their pocket books.

It is certainly debatable whether or not the bailout improved the economy, and certain tax cuts could help us in this recession. But these would most certainly have to be long-term tax cuts.

Alas, these days the government needs all the revenue it can get. Many will make tax-cut proposals that are never expected to pass if only to engage in political pandering.