INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s governor said Wednesday he was preparing a plan to potentially reach into the growing state budget surplus to help residents with the national inflation jump, while rejecting thoughts to suspend state gas taxes.

Democrats have been asking since March for a temporary gas tax suspension, only to be sidelined rebuffed by Governor Eric Holcomb and the GOP-dominated Legislature.

Holcomb said it would be “misguided” to cut the 56 cents per gallon in state taxes on gasoline and agreed with Republican legislative leaders that doing so would be an inefficient way of getting financial help to people across the state.

Supporters of a gas tax cut argue the state can afford such a move as its state tax collections have surged about 12% from a year ago, potentially pushing state cash reserves from last year’s record level to $3.9 billion to about $6 billion by the end of June.

Holcomb said he expected to release a plan in early June for what he called “inflationary relief” but provided no details.