State economist Laurie Lachance brought complaining about taxes to a new level this week – meaning she proposed a specific package of reforms and did not just whine about the state’s high taxation. However, her ideas, even the ones that have been tossed around for years without anyone in Augusta acting on them, may be more than what lawmakers can handle for now.

The major tax-reform proposal in the Legislature this session would shift hundreds of millions of dollars annually from local property taxes to state sales taxes, although it is not clear what sales would be taxed to make up the difference. But give credit to Sen. Peter Mills and Rep. Bernard McGowan for attempting the reform given that the most popular sport in the Capitol is to look at the governor’s proposed budget, scream that it doesn’t cut taxes or cut taxes enough (reminding voters that Maine is the highest-taxed U.S. state in the galaxy) and then lament that there just isn’t time this session to do anything about it.

Ms. Lachance, speaking Tuesday in Portland, offered four ideas for reforming Maine’s tax system:

. Eliminate the property tax on business equipment.

. Lower the top income tax rate, currently 8.5 percent, and adjust the other rates, then let the brackets rise with inflation.

. Raise sales taxes from 5 percent to 6 percent, the national average, and broaden the base to include professional services and perhaps food.

. Allow higher property taxes on vacation homes and second homes than on primary residences.

Since presenting her comments, as part of a panel discussion on taxation, Ms. Lachance reports that she has been overwhelmed by the number of people who have contacted her to support the ideas. More than support for the specific proposals, the response is evidence of how badly overdue a major tax overhaul is in Maine – not more incremental changes, although some of them have been helpful, but a serious change in the tax structure.

In her speech, Ms. Lachance suggested one reason reform hasn’t happened could be found in a 1998 study called “A Revenue Raising Plan for Maine,” by Daphne Kenyon of Simmons College. That study concluded that no major reform is possible in Maine until the state comes to grips with the conflict between tax fairness and tax competitiveness. That is, Maine ranks high on questions of tax equity but dismally on studies of attractiveness to businesses. Can the state drop from, say, seventh to 10th on the equity scale in order to rise from 48th to 30th on the competitiveness scale?

Doing so, she concludes, would provide a lot more wealth in the state and make the current level of taxation considerably less burdensome by lifting incomes. That’s a point worth debating, but before lawmakers start they have homework to do. They need to identify what they want taxes to do – Ms. Lachance put it a slightly different way. She asked, “What vision does the public have for Maine?” and “How can tax reform move Maine toward that vision?” Taxes must pay for essential state services, like education and public safety, certainly, but they can also do much more.

Rather than continue the legislative habit of discovering an desirable industry and offering a tax break to it with too little regard to how the accumulation of these tax changes affect the state system overall, a more comprehensive approach – a bigger overhaul – may be needed. Fifteen years ago Massachusetts had among the highest tax burdens in the country; now it ranks 29th. Reform there began with a set of principles. Its tax system was to emphasize simplicity, fairness, competitiveness, cost effectiveness, neutrality, stability and exportability. Lawmakers here could start with these same principles and build a better system for Maine.

There is a leap of faith in believing that a reformed tax system – along with a more efficient government – will result in higher incomes, but there is no question that Maine’s taxes are not seen as competitive, are not, because of its narrow sales tax, particularly stable and are not, because of a steep rise in income tax rates, always fair. The state economist has provided both a template for reforming taxes and a model for what the changes could include. The only excuse left for lawmakers is that it is more fun to whine than work.