The Georgia state legislature did not introduce a bill in its most recent session to renew the state tax-free weekend for 2017, ending the past annual event.

District 171 Representative Jay Powell has been in favor of ending the tax free weekend in the past, and this year the failure to introduce the tax-free legislation shows that others share his sentiment.

“Me and some other people shared the sentiment,” said Powell. “The program does not create jobs or stimulate the economy.”

The way tax-free weekend happened is cyclical. The legislature would vote on introduced legislation that, in the past, would support the tax-free event for two years.

When the two-year cycle began to come to a close, the state would introduce legislation again, but recently the legislation became for one year rather than two. This year, the House ended it by not continuing to introduce another bill.

“Nobody ever talked about it, it is not something that we have to take up,” said Powell. “It’s just something that if someone wants to drop a bill, they drop it and start the discussion.”

According to an article on Georgiapol.com, a study by the Fiscal Research Center at Georgia State University found that instead of increasing spending, which the weekend is supposed to do, buyers simply hold off on purchases until the weekend.

This action in turn costs the state between $36-$50 million annually.

For residents of Georgia who still look to participate in the event, neighboring states are still hosting the tax-free weekends. Florida will host their weekend August 4-6 and Alabama’s is July 21-23.