Other articles by Howard Fischer:

Burns: Brewer bungling her job House approves boost in funding for those seeking office next year 3 recommended to Brewer to fill seat on high court AZ can enact own greenhouse gas regsRecession reins in sprawl Pet bills aplenty pouring forth from Legislature Brewer wants budget right away, but not those other, lesser bills Flat-tax plan could hit walletsRepeal of ban on sparklers nears final OK Ballot-imposed limits on lawmakers battled

General
A1 Communications
Cable Techs Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION

PHOENIX — It doesn't look like Arizonans will get any relief this summer from the state gasoline tax.

On a 10-14 vote, the Senate on Tuesday killed a proposal that would have given state motorists a rebate of the taxes they paid on all the gasoline they bought between July 4 and Oct. 12.

Sen. Jorge Garcia, D-Tucson, said the idea was to help motorists traveling between the Independence and Columbus Day holidays.

But Garcia's idea ran into opposition over not only the concept but also the mechanics of his proposal.

The plan would have left Arizona's 18-cent-a-gallon tax in place. But at the end of the summer, motorists could gather up all the receipts for the gasoline they bought and submit a request to the state Department of Revenue for a rebate.

It would not have been much: A motorist who drives about 1,500 miles a month in a vehicle that gets 20 miles per gallon would be entitled to less than $50 in rebates for all the effort.

To keep any one individual from getting too much, Garcia included a $200 limit on how much any one person could claim as a credit.

But the odds of most drivers hitting that limit were pretty slim: Someone would have to purchase more than 1,100 gallons of gasoline in less than four months, the equivalent of driving 22,000 miles in that 20 mpg vehicle.

Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park, said it would have made far more sense — and created far less paperwork — to simply suspend the tax. Garcia conceded the point, acknowledging he had not computed how much it would cost the state to administer the program.

But that wasn't the only objection.

Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, pointed out that Garcia intended to pay the up to $70 million in rebates by repealing a provision that allows individuals and corporations to get a dollar-for-dollar credit on state income taxes for donations they make to organizations that pay the tuition of students who want to attend private and parochial schools.

He called substituting one tax break for another a "shell game … for political purposes."