Illinois Republicans are looking into how best to fend off record-breaking fuel costs.

The House Republican Task Force on Motor Fuel Pricing met earlier this month to discuss several possible solutions, from suspending Illinois’ sales tax on fuel to encouraging more people to use ethanol and other biofuels.

“I don’t see this going away. I don’t see gasoline being $1.45 a gallon ever again in my life,” Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, told The Quad City Times. “In fact, now a lot of people would sigh with relief if it was $2 a gallon.”

Black said the task force would come up with a package of measures through which the state could provide a little relief at the pump. The panel will submit their ideas during the General Assembly veto session later this month.

One proposal calls for suspending the state’s sales tax on gasoline and diesel for about two months, Black said.

Black told The News-Gazette in Champaign-Urbana the possible sales tax holiday is “the most realistic short-term solution.”

Consumers now pay a 6.25 percent sales tax on motor fuel pumped into their tanks; 5 percent goes to the state with the rest earmarked for local governments.

Illinois is one of nine states to apply a general sales tax on fuel in addition to a per-gallon state tax.

Black said because fuel prices are soaring, the state’s revenue from that sales tax is significantly higher than had been expected.

However, a spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich said even a temporary suspension of that tax would cause hardship in other areas of the budget, such as education and health care.

“It’s something that the governor hasn’t ruled completely out, but it is a very distant option,” spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch told The News-Gazette.