Are sales tax holidays actually beneficial? Mississippi’s sales tax holiday weekend wrapped up Saturday and stores were likely busy all weekend with shoppers seeking deals.

But does the tax cut actually benefit the consumer, the stores and the states that lose that tax revenue?

The idea seems relatively simple: consumers get a discount on select items and that alone drives more traffic to businesses. Shoppers also buy items that aren’t tax exempt and that’s good for local businesses.

But economists aren’t convinced that the holiday works as advertised.

“Experience shows that the claims of economic stimulus, increased revenue, and consumer savings are greatly exaggerated,” Scott Drenkard and Joseph Henchman wrote in a 2015 report  for Tax Foundation. “States see little net economic activity as a result of sales tax holidays. The holidays instead represent a costly-to-administer revenue loss for the government.”

A 2001 study found that some retailers raise prices on the tax-free items, offsetting any savings to the consumer.

“When lawmakers create sales tax holidays, the assumption is that the benefit will be passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices,” write Tax Foundation’s Drenkard and Henchman. “In reality, retailers often absorb those benefits for themselves.”

In reality, the holidays probably do benefit middle- and upper-class families that can choose when to buy the bulk of their back-to-school shoes and clothing. Lower-income families aren’t that flexible. They buy those essentials when there’s money in the bank, which doesn’t always coincide with the tax-free weekend.

Instead of boosting the local economy, tax-free weekends simply shift when purchases are made, according to the experts.

There’s also the lost revenue the state desperately needs. Once you factor in Mississippi’s laundry list of exemptions (things like school supplies and computers), it’s easy to arrive at the conclusion that the holiday does little good and may potentially do harm.

Lawmakers should look at the effectiveness of this holiday and determine if it indeed helps those it claims to help. If not, they should restructure the holiday in a way that better targets those who truly need the tax break.