Regular readers of our web page may have noticed that we've begun posting State of the State addresses by New Democrat Governors from around the country. Nestled in South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodge's State of the State Address is our Idea of the Week, which, like last week's (Idea of the Week, January 12, 2000: "Offsetting Payroll Taxes"), shows that tax relief can be progressive and targeted, not regressive and economically risky.

Here's how Gov. Hodges describes his state's experiment with a back-to-school sales tax holiday:

Last year, we hit a home run with South Carolina's new sales tax holiday. Held in August, it was targeted to families and students getting ready for the new school year. Since it was a targeted tax cut, I decided to do my shopping -- where else? -- at Target. Let me tell you what I saw there.

Parents were lined up with baskets full of back-to-school supplies. A store manager told me that -- apart from the day after Thanksgiving -- the sales tax holiday was the busiest shopping day of the year.

The numbers speak for themselves. Sales volume rose 75 to 80 percent from the same weekend [the previous year.] South Carolina merchants told me they took in $250 million because of the sales tax holiday.

It's a very simple and easily implemented form of tax relief -- just don't collect it for a day or two -- it's progressive in that sales taxes typically impose the greatest burden on low-income citizens, and it helped ensure that families got their kids fully prepared for school. And at a time when various tax cut schemes are being justified as necessary to boost consumer spending, it's clear South Carolina's sales tax holiday succeeded in boosting retail sales.

Most of all, in contrast to our Republican friends in Washington, the fiscally responsible Hodges showed that you can provide meaningful tax relief without giving away the store.