Maine’s tax system needs an update.

The work was begun with L.D. 1 during the last session of the Legislature, but as anyone who received a higher property tax bill this year can attest, there’s still much to be done.

There has been talk of a special session to address tax reform. The governor has told some tax activists he’ll call a session if democratic leaders in the House and Senate agree that they have a workable plan that can win majority support. With each day that passes, however, the special session is less likely.

And, as the announcement Tuesday by Republican candidate for governor Peter Cianchette makes clear, nothing that’s done from here on will escape the gravity of next year’s gubernatorial election.

As recently as this spring, a handful of Democrats and Republicans, including another GOP candidate for governor, Peter Mills, were able to agree on the general outlines of a tax reform plan that would have broadened the reach of the sales tax, slightly reduced the top income tax rate, dropped low-income Mainers from the income tax rolls and reduced the state’s reliance on property taxes.

The Maine Citizen Leadership Fund has advocated a similar plan, and L.D. 1595, which is currently being worked on by the Taxation Committee, originally followed along. How it will look once it’s been battered by the committee process is hard to say, but MCLF advocates fear that it might avoid significant reform and instead merely nibble around the edges.

L.D. 1595 has contained a smorgasbord of reforms, with something that just about everyone can support. As originally presented, it would bring Maine in line with federal rules on health savings accounts, a pet issue for many Republicans. It would also decrease the top income tax rate from 8.5 percent to 8.25 percent. It’s mostly a symbolic decrease, but a decrease, nonetheless.

For progressives, the plan would exempt an estimated 50,000 low-income households from income tax, includes several tax provisions favorable to poor state residents, increases the earned income tax credit and fully funds the state’s share of school funding to 55 percent.

And it would attack the property tax problem by fully funding the $13,000 homestead exemption that was part of L.D. 1.

That’s a lot of goodies – and it’s only a partial list. To pay for them, the plan would broaden the reach of the sales tax, increase the tax on beer, wine and car rentals, and increase the meals and lodging tax.

The biggest opponents of the plan are industries that have so far avoided collecting sales tax on the goods or services they offer. Because of its limited reach, Maine’s sales tax is overly dependent on home construction and automobile sales. That contributes to budget cycles of boom and bust. When the economy goes in the tank, people stop building houses and stop buying new cars; state revenue declines. By spreading out the sales tax reach, the impact of a recession can be more limited.

L.D. 1595 isn’t perfect. One major flaw is that it gives localities a green light to keep on spending. In the past, the governor has insisted that increases in state money flowing to localities as part of the plan translate into real and significant property tax savings. It’s a reasonable demand.

Republicans have held out for a constitutional cap on government spending, which has almost no support among Democrats and would threaten the state’s ability to react to the unexpected and to keep up with the changing dynamics of providing services to state residents.

With the shadows of a no-holds-barred race for governor falling over every political word that’s uttered, it will take significant courage to tackle meaningful tax reform. The plan outlined above – even with its elements of real tax relief – could easily be spun as a tax increase; things that aren’t taxed now would be taxed. And Republicans have little political incentive to go along even with good ideas.

In an election year, it’s easier to point at the other guy and talk about what he has failed to do than it is to work with him to accomplish something. Democrats, with slim majorities in the House and Senate, might be able to force through tax reform without Republican support, but such a bold move requires a united caucus that might not exist.

What’s needed is dtente between the parties for the good of the state. With the Blaine House up for grabs, we’re not holding our breath.