Romney argued that tax policy should be used to promote energy conservation. When his lieutenant governor supported a temporary suspension of the state gasoline tax to provide consumers some relief during a period of especially high gasoline prices in 2006, Romney rejected the proposal, arguing that maintaining the tax would help encourage energy conservation: "I don't think that now is the time, and I'm not sure there will be the right time, for us to encourage the use of more gasoline. ... I am very much in favor of people recognizing that these high gasoline prices are probably here to stay and that the appropriate action for us to take is to find ways to find fuel conservation."